Book Review: Sea of Rust

Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On Earth in a time where no humans exist, and there are only human made AI robots, we are challenged to look at ourselves, human society, the definition of a 'living thing', and question our own existence. C. Robert Cargill has brought us a spectacular science fiction, social commentary through the eyes of a charismatic robot and a POV from history before humans were decimated in his novel Sea of Rust. This is easily one of the most underrated books of the 2010's (released in 2018). Forget the Martian, Ready Player One, or Annihilation; Sea of Rust deserves to be next to Station Eleven and Dark Matter as one of the most brilliant science fiction books of the 2010's decade.

Philosophy
As with many science fiction books there is a lot of social commentary in Sea of Rust. Cargill does not hold back on ensuring that the reader is aware of how useless and dumb society (as a whole) is. While individuals can be smart and understand issues and root cause; getting everyone to conform and agree in order to meet the greater good is nigh on impossible (look at climate change issues of today). Ironically we realize, very early on, that the same is true for our (adorable) robots. No one wants to be a part of one entity, we all want to be individuals; even if you're 'just' an AI. And what is an AI robot besides an evolution of human thinking? Afterall a human made AI must have all the same inherent flaws that human logic does. And therefore, doesn't an AI also have a personality and make its own choices just like humans?

Are AI robots alive?
The question of existence is prevalent throughout Sea of Rust. To start Cargill borrows Isaac Asimov's three rules of robotics. Now anyone whose read I, Robot (or saw the action packed movie) knows that it doesn't really work in the end. The same is true here.
In order to protect humans, (rule #3: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.), robots must act to stop the humans from being parasites and destroying the Earth.
If you need proof that this is true look at the United States or China of today. Both are nationalistic countries that don't care what happens to anyone else but themselves. They don't make global decisions, they (tend to) make selfish decisions that meet their own needs and people first. And while this makes sense to us as citizens of a country (and politically) the reality is that this attitude cannot persist if we are to keep humanity alive. That same thing happens in Sea of Rust as this Earth ends up with only robots and no humans. And so as soon as you talk about existence what you are really talking about is survival. Isn't anything that 'survives' alive?

Can robots have feelings?
The second thing that Cargill makes the reader question is if you can have feelings or love for a robot. Alternatively, can a robot have feelings for someone else (a human or another robot)?
To me it's clear that as soon as something has an identity, or can be seen as an individual, then it must have feelings that lead it to those individualities. Think of any pet (dog, cat, snake, bird, etc.), we know their nuances and personality; therefore they are individuals to us. No one cat or snake is the same as the next. Cargill eloquently show that AI Robots are the same. They make decisions based on their programming (obviously); but also based on their own learning (AI). Thus each AI perceives the world differently; just like humans. And so each AI has a feeling towards other robots or things in its perception.

Complexity
There is a lot to digest here. But at no time was I overwhelmed. Instead Cargill introduces many times over, and explains in different ways, how and why his robots are the way they are. The beauty is how Cargill does so without sounding like a boring English professor. His robots have build societies and thus wars break out (because humans always want more and so do our AI counterparts). We also start to understand that the robots have a drive to survive (again like humans):

"The survivors, on the other hand, embodied the can-do attitude of the post-apocalyptic frontier spirit. In other words, they were completely fucking nuts."

"But I had to dream. I had to hope. Even if it made me the fool of this particular tale."

Overall
I won't ever be able to put into words all the amazing points, quotes and social insight that Cargill gives us in Sea of Rust. What's especially nice is that, unlike many social commentary books, Sea of Rust is in a easy to digest format. The chapter sizes feel consistent, the pacing is well set and while the concepts are complex the writing itself doesn't require a dictionary. This is a very approachable story that everyone should read; if only to understand themselves and humans as a whole better. If nothing else this line of Sea of Rust will resonate with me for a long time; because knowing things are bad and accepting those bad things are two concepts humans are very bad at reconciling:

"People knew their own nature, even when they wanted to think better of themselves."

A print copy of Sea of Rust now sits on in my personal library; right next to the equally insightful and amazing Station Eleven. I cannot possibly endorse this novel enough and hope that others find the depth to it that I did.

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