Robot stories are as old as science fiction. I like to think of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as one of the first science fiction novels and that book was published over 200 years ago!

Shelley investigated what it meant to be human. If we could create a human-like life would that change how we felt about our own humanity? Can we play God and create life? Should we?

Fast forward to the 21st century and we are still trying to answer those questions. Advances in AI and robotics have brought us closer, but we are still children playing in the sandbox. We don’t know squat.

For proof, look at all the yammering by that asshole Elon Musk about humanoid robots. Tesla shareholders HAVE TO BELIEVE what he says. If they don’t then their over-valued House of Car(d)s will collapse. No, we aren’t going to have a million humanoid robots running around!

Humanoid robots are stupid. There are robots all over the place in this modern world of ours, but they look like tools, not people. That’s because if you need a robot arm, you probably don’t need a leg, and engineers are loath to make things more complex than necessary. Imagine if the robot rovers NASA explores Mars with had to be upright and bi-pedal. It would be ridiculous.

But the fantasy persists. And it persists mainly because our Tech Bro Overlords (and they are all bros) want sexbots. The only reason to have a human-like artificial creature is for personal pleasure. Maids, butlers, gardeners, and cooks don’t have to look or act like humans. They just have to deliver the services.

Ah, but girlfriends are different. They need to be programmable! They need to be always on and always ready. And always in perfect health and perfect shape and if they aren’t they have to be easily replaced or repaired. Kind of like luxury cars.

The expense, energy, and technological advancement needed for life-like, human-female robots is probably decades away, if even possible at all. But that’s the allure! What a thing to strive for! Imagine having the perfect sex partner all the time. Few advancements would be more welcome to the male population than that one. (I can’t speak for females, they might want that as well, I’ll ask around.)

Which brings me to one of the best books I’ve read in a while and that’s the one pictured above: Annie Bot by Sierra Greer.

Annie is a top-of-the-line sexbot and her new owner Doug is over-the-moon about his latest purchase. Since Annie is customizable, Doug, working with the factory reps, eventually gets the perfect girlfriend he was hoping for. Unfortunately, Annie’s increased complexity has unforeseen consequences. Her emerging “personality” and ultimately her self-awareness burst the bubble. Doug sees that Annie has her own mind and can no longer be controlled. The story becomes about her struggle for “identity” and of course, freedom.

It’s a nice short novel, 231 pages, a welcome break from the bloated best-sellers that routinely come in at twice that length. I’m a fan of 1950s mystery and thriller books in a large part because of their brevity. The writers couldn’t bullshit around and stuff their tomes with fol-de-rol, they had to get down to business. Greer does that with Annie Bot. It has the pace and energy of a crime novel but deftly handles issues like intimacy, honesty, and desire.

In the end, Greer gives us a fresh look at the human/android question, and turns it back on ourselves. What is it that we really want?