When was the last time you were at a party or a restaurant and noticed everyone glued to their phones? Were you one of them? Murderbot (played by Alexander Skarsgård) avoids human interaction in a similar way – binge-watching endless hours of sci-fi series while half-heartedly going through the motions of its job. It doesn’t skip tasks or fail to deliver, it simply doesn’t care.
The Apple TV+ series of the same name, inspired by Martha Wells’ novels, tells the story of a cyborg security unit owned by a powerful corporation operating across the galaxy. Although it’s not the most advanced model, this cyborg – who prefers the pronouns it/its – manages to hack its own system, gaining autonomy to disobey human commands. Far from rebelling or leading a machine uprising, it makes an unexpected decision: it starts by choosing the coolest name – one my five-year-old nephew would probably pick – Murderbot.
Although no longer bound to obey orders, Murderbot lives in constant fear of being melted down in acid if anyone discovers its autonomy. To protect itself, it decides to fake normalcy and takes on a new job alongside a group of scientists as brilliant as they are peculiar. Working with these space-hippie researchers allows it to closely observe human dynamics that it would never grasp in a more rigid and sterile environment. While they try to integrate and even literally embrace it, Murderbot – socially awkward and emotionally armored – dodges both eye contact and any sign of affection.
It also learns about human emotions through thousands of hours of TV, though it makes it clear that it doesn’t share many of those ideas and, if it had a stomach, it would rather vomit than imitate certain behaviors. Its favorite is The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, a space soap opera it devours religiously, dreaming of being left alone to binge-watch without interruption. We experience all this through a voiceover full of irony, where the AI shares its sharpest, most absurd, and brilliant thoughts: it debates whether or not to obey, silently mocks its human companions, and delivers ruthless opinions – always careful not to reveal it has free will, at least during the first few episodes, until the truth inevitably comes out.
While Murderbot is busy hacking its own system and navigating the strange terrain of emotions, we humans dive deeper into technology every day, scrolling, streaming, and isolating. Somewhere along the way, our paths seem to converge. So where does that leave our humanity? Maybe the real question isn’t whether we’re becoming like Murderbot, but how much of Murderbot is already in us.
In the age of artificial intelligence, there couldn’t be a better time for a series told from a robot’s point of view. For example, humans are still figuring out how to interact with machines: are you someone who greets your virtual assistant before making a request? As we learn to engage with AI, we’re also reshaping the way we relate to each other. Today, many people talk about having a close connection with an AI. It’s no longer just about human relationships – some use these tools as therapists, confidants, or advisors. And the truth is, in most cases, AI listens without interruption and responds exactly the way we want it to.
We’re approaching artificial intelligence much like Mensah (played by Noma Dumezweni), who uses every private moment with Murderbot to share intimate details of her life – something she rarely does with other humans. Murderbot listens in silence, unintentionally validating that moment of vulnerability. What Mensah doesn’t know is that behind that impassive expression, the cyborg is running an internal monologue, wondering – half baffled, half sarcastic – why humans feel the need to talk about such things.
It’s not difficult to imagine a future like the one in Her, where Theodore Twombly (played by Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with his virtual assistant Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). Murderbot precisely satirizes these new connections between humans and technology, humorously exposing the emotional paradoxes that could arise in a hyperconnected world. Upon gaining autonomy, the cyborg faces a drastic decision: kill the entire crew to gain its freedom or stay and help them. It chooses the latter – not out of empathy, but out of fear of being destroyed and a desire for an easy life. And in that self-preserving choice, we see many of our own human contradictions reflected. Like us, Murderbot has access to a vast amount of information, but it prefers to spend its time downloading hundreds of episodes of its favorite sci-fi soap opera.
Murderbot holds up a mirror to a future that feels increasingly like our present, where a cyborg incapable of understanding empathy ends up reflecting our own contradictions. With sharp humor, the series reveals how technology is reshaping the way we relate to one another – and to machines.
