![]() ![]() ![]() I got the distinct impression that it was looking at me.”) later, workers begin to turn their analytical powers upon themselves. Employee statements first focus on the aliveness of the objects (“It was warm. The earliest statements are somewhat opaque, mostly describing certain objects and their immediate effects. ![]() ![]() The story begins with a disclaimer explaining that the statements collected are the result of interviews conducted over an 18-month period. While the ostensible purpose of these fictional interviews is to determine the impact of “objects” collected from a new planet on the titular employees who work in their presence, benign observation soon gives way to poignant consideration of what humans are capable of feeling for those who are made and not born, what it means to be alive, and what it means to be human, a separation this tale is keen to probe. The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken, is a meditation on living, conveyed fragmentally, through a series of numbered statements given by workers-some of whom are human while others are humanoid artificial intelligence-on a space vessel called the Six Thousand Ship. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |