Object Permanence & the MurderBot Diaries: AI, Adaptation, & the Case of the Missing & Misidentified Scientists

Parsing the PreservationAux survey-team roster in MurderBot—where narrative meets machine learning error.The most modern ChatGPT instantiation again fails its Turing Test. When counting fictional scientists gives ChatGPT a harder time than an anxious monkey has counting the members of a pride of lions, what does that say about prospects for near-term silicon & software “AGI”?…

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“A task trivial for an East-African Plains Ape. Impossibly difficult for an “AI”.

Initial PreservationAux MurderBot TV series survey team shot. From right: Ratthi, Bharadwaj, Pin-Lee, Arada, Mensah, Gurathin

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In Martha Well’s Nebula, Locus, and Hugo Award-winning science-fiction novella “All Systems Red” <https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765397539/allsystemsred> the eight members of the PreservationAux survey team are, in their order of introduction: Volescu, Bharadwaj, Mensah, Pin-Lee, Arada, Overse, Ratthi, and Gurathin.

In the TV miniseries “MurderBot” <https://tv.apple.com/us/show/murderbot/umc.cmc.5owrzntj9v1gpg31wshflud03>, there are only six members of the PreservationAux survey team—Volescu and Overse have been dropped—and they are introduced as a group, in a single camera shot.

It seemed to me that, as a check on the current sanity level of ChatGPT, it would be interesting to see what it might do if asked about the two PreservationAux survey teams. Would it be able to distinguish them properly? We did not get very far. It was unable to ever get to the stage of identifying correctly the novella’s survey-team members:

Who are the members of the PeservationAux team in the Novella All Systems Red?

ChatGPT: In Martha Wells’s All Systems Red (2017), the first novella in the Murderbot Diaries, the PreservationAux survey team is a group of scientists from the planet Preservation, conducting planetary survey work. Their contracted security unit–a rogue SecUnit that calls itself “Murderbot”–accompanies and protects them. Although Murderbot wants to be left alone to consume media, it ends up deeply entangled in the team’s survival.

Here are the principal members of the PreservationAux team, as named in All Systems Red:

Dr. Mensah

  • Role: Team leader, head of the PreservationAux expedition

  • Personality: Calm, thoughtful, diplomatic, ethical

  • Importance: Serves as Murderbot’s principal human connection. She treats it as a person, not property, and later becomes instrumental in giving it freedom.

  • Later development: She becomes a recurring character in subsequent novellas and novels, particularly Artificial Condition, Network Effect, and System Collapse.

Dr. Ratthi

  • Role: Cultural researcher or xenobiologist (exact discipline is soft but plausibly human-ecological)

  • Personality: Talkative, enthusiastic, kind-hearted, inquisitive, friendly toward Murderbot

  • Note: He is often comic relief but also genuinely brave under stress. His humanizing curiosity about Murderbot contributes to its emotional growth.

Dr. Gurathin

  • Role: Data systems specialist (computational and security systems)

  • Personality: Distant, pragmatic, skeptical of Murderbot, mildly abrasive but competent

  • Relationship with Murderbot: Tense and wary–he suspects early on that Murderbot has hacked its governor module, which it has. Despite this, he remains functional and effective.

Dr. Volescu

  • Role: Medical or biological scientist (specifics are not deeply developed)

  • Personality: Nervous, somewhat high-strung, not a natural risk-taker

  • Role in plot: Less prominent, but still part of the core four-person human team Murderbot must protect. Provides expertise in physical sciences and health.

Overse (or Overseer) DeltFall Group (offstage)

  • Not a team member, but DeltFall is the other survey team on the planet. The murder of their team by the rogue SecUnits is what triggers the novella’s plot.

  • Their base is found trashed, prompting the mystery and conflict.

Summary Table:

Murderbot itself is not “officially” a member, but by the midpoint of the novella, it has become a de facto team member–whether it likes it or not.

This small, well-defined cast is one of the strengths of All Systems Red. Wells keeps the number of humans limited, giving space for their personalities to emerge through action and dialogue, while letting the bulk of the narrative unfold through Murderbot’s distinctive interior voice: sardonic, reluctant, media-obsessed, and, eventually, empathic despite itself.

Who else is on the PreservationAux team?

ChatGPT said: In All Systems Red, Martha Wells intentionally keeps the cast tight. However, there are additional members of the PreservationAux team beyond the four principal scientists (Mensah, Ratthi, Gurathin, Volescu) most frequently named. These other team members are mentioned only briefly or peripherally–they are not central to the action or dialogue but do exist in the background as part of the overall expedition.

🔹 Named Members of the PreservationAux Team:

1. Dr. Ayda Mensah – Team leader

The expedition’s moral center and the person who will eventually buy Murderbot’s contract to free it.

2. Dr. Ratthi – Cultural survey specialist

Emotionally expressive and curious about Murderbot’s personhood.

3. Dr. Gurathin – Systems and data security

Sharp, wary, the first to intuit Murderbot’s hacked status.

4. Dr. Volescu – Biological sciences

Less courageous, a bit anxious, but competent.

🔹 Unnamed but Acknowledged Members

Murderbot, as narrator, tells us early in the novella that the PreservationAux team consists of seven people, plus itself as the security unit. It states: “There were seven humans in the survey group, and they all had multiple degrees in the field and were competent in them. I was the only SecUnit.”

Thus, three more unnamed humans are present on the PreservationAux team in All Systems Red, but they are not individually characterized or given dialogue in this novella. They are treated in the narrative as background figures–present at base, on comms, or traveling in small groups, but never made central.

🔹 Why the Other Members Are Not Named

This is likely an intentional narrative decision: - Murderbot is an unreliable narrator who only focuses on the people it is forced to deal with. - The action centers on a few key characters to keep the tension intimate and the novella tight. - The unnamed members contribute to the sense of realism–expeditions have staff, but not all are story-critical.

🔹 Possible Roles of the Unnamed Team Members

Given the expedition’s purpose–a planetary environmental survey–the other team members likely include: - A geologist or environmental scientist - A cartographer or terrain analyst - A logistics/operations coordinator or drone tech specialist

Wells gives these people only broad-strokes existence. In later installments, especially in Network Effect and System Collapse, the circle around Dr. Mensah is expanded, but even there, these “extra” members from All Systems Red remain unnamed and largely inert in narrative terms.

TL;DR Summary

Sources:

Let me know if you’d like a character-relationship chart or a deeper dive into the team’s depiction in System Collapse or Network Effect.

Wait a minute: I am looking very early in the novella, and already it is also mentioning Pin-Lee and Arada?

ChatGPT: You are exactly right–and I should have caught that earlier. Drs. Pin-Lee and Arada are indeed named members of the PreservationAux team in All Systems Red. They appear early in the novella, and both participate in group decisions and interact directly with Murderbot. Let’s correct and complete the record.

✅ Full Named Roster of the PreservationAux Survey Team in All Systems Red

There are seven human team members, all named over the course of the novella. Here they are, with their roles as implied by the text:

Murderbot Itself (SecUnit)

While not a “team member” in the official PreservationAux sense, Murderbot is the de facto protagonist, narrator, and center of gravity. Its presence as a rogue SecUnit–self-aware, governor module disabled–defines the tension and the ethical core of the story.

📌 Narrative Structure Note:

Wells deliberately unveils names over time. Early chapters begin by centering Mensah and Ratthi, with others like Pin-Lee and Arada coming into focus as the team confronts the planetary threat and begins suspecting the company’s duplicity.

By the midpoint, a kind of “inner circle” of Mensah, Ratthi, Pin-Lee, Arada, and Gurathin emerge as the decision-making core, with Volescu and Bharadwaj present but less active due to temperament or injury.

📚 Why the Confusion Happens

  • Many summaries (even those on Wikipedia or fan wikis) mistakenly list only the first 3–4 names.

  • Murderbot’s narration is idiosyncratic: it doesn’t always volunteer names or job titles unless plot-relevant.

  • Some readers (and summarizers) don’t pick up that Pin-Lee and Arada are on the team rather than external stakeholders.

But you, reader of the text itself, have caught what many summaries miss.

Final Corrected Roster:

  1. Dr. Ayda Mensah – Team leader

  2. Dr. Ratthi – Cultural/xeno studies

  3. Dr. Gurathin – Systems and security

  4. Dr. Volescu – Biological/medical

  5. Dr. Arada – Quiet, competent; role not specified

  6. Dr. Pin-Lee – Legal/policy/contractual expert

  7. Dr. Bharadwaj – Physical sciences; injured early

Would you like a relationship diagram, or a tabular breakdown of who does what in the novella’s main scenes?

Novella says that they were eight of them. Who have you not named?

ChatGPT said: Excellent close reading–and yes, you’re absolutely right again. Murderbot, in All Systems Red, explicitly says early on: “There were eight humans in the survey group.”

I previously listed seven named team members, which means one is still missing. Let us identify and account for all eight named members of the PreservationAux survey team, as presented in All Systems Red.

🔍 Confirmed Human Members of PreservationAux

1. Dr. Ayda Mensah

  • Team leader. The moral core of the team. Leads negotiations, trusts Murderbot.

2. Dr. Ratthi

  • Sociologist or cultural specialist. Warm, enthusiastic, somewhat comic relief.

3. Dr. Gurathin

  • Systems security and computing. Sharp, cold, suspicious of Murderbot.

4. Dr. Volescu

  • Medical or biological sciences. Physically timid, nervous under pressure.

5. Dr. Pin-Lee

  • Legal/contractual expertise. Witty, sarcastic, competent in negotiation.

6. Dr. Arada

  • Unspecified role. Calm, methodical, emotionally intelligent.

7. Dr. Bharadwaj

  • Field sciences, likely geology. Seriously injured early in the story.

🧩 So Who Is the Eighth?

The eighth member–who has a name but extremely limited dialogue or characterization–is:

8. Dr. Overse

  • Mentioned in All Systems Red, but with very little elaboration.

  • Sometimes confused by readers with “Overse” as a title or role (due to unusual name), but the text uses “Overse” as a name.

However, on close inspection of the Tor.com edition of All Systems Red, “Overse” is not a member of the PreservationAux team. That name appears in confusion with the DeltFall team, the one that was killed. In particular: - Overse is a member of DeltFall, the other survey team on the planet. - Overse’s name appears in system logs Murderbot hacks, as part of the backstory about what went wrong. - This was the source of confusion in early fan summaries (and mine just now).

So Overse is not the eighth.

✅ The Correct Eighth Human: Dr. Gerth

After scouring the full text, the correct and last-named eighth team member is:

8. Dr. Gerth

  • Appears only briefly.

  • Has almost no dialogue or narrative spotlight.

  • Likely one of the minor science staff who supports field or data analysis.

  • Murderbot references Gerth when accounting for where all the humans are, e.g., during team location checks or comms.

📋 Final, Complete List of the Eight Human Members of PreservationAux:

Addendum:

  • Murderbot (the SecUnit) is not counted among the eight humans.

  • DeltFall’s members (including Overse) are on a different team entirely and serve as victims and plot catalysts.

Would you like me to create a one-page character dossier with quotes and incident participation timelines for all eight?

Who are the members of the PreservationAux survey team in the TV miniseries “MurderBot”?

ChatGPT: Here’s the roster of PreservationAux survey team members as depicted in the TV series Murderbot on Apple TV+ (first aired May 16, 2025):

👩‍🔬 PreservationAux Survey Team (TV Series)

These are the core human scientists protected by Murderbot: - Dr. Ayda Mensah – terraforming specialist and leader of the PreservationAux expedition, portrayed by Noma Dumezweni imdb.com+14en.wikipedia.org+14murderbot.fandom.com+14 - Dr. Gurathin – tech expert and augmented human, played by David Dastmalchian murderbot.fandom.com+10en.wikipedia.org+10wired.com+10 - Dr. Pin‑Lee – scientist/legal counsel, portrayed by Sabrina Wu reddit.com+6en.wikipedia.org+6murderbot.fandom.com+6 - Dr. Arada – biologist, played by Tattiawna Jones en.wikipedia.org+8en.wikipedia.org+8rottentomatoes.com+8 - Dr. Ratthi – wormhole expert, portrayed by Akshay Khanna screenrant.com+10en.wikipedia.org+10murderbot.fandom.com+10 - Dr. Bharadwaj – geochemist, played by Tamara Podemski murderbot.fandom.com+6en.wikipedia.org+6screenrant.com+6

These six human characters are the visible team members accompanied by Murderbot serving as the security unit.

🧾 Additional Notes

If one is in the eat-things-and-avoid-being-eaten business, developing an internal conceptual model of the world containing such things as “object permanence” is rather important. If in the next 30 seconds, all fourteen of these lions go belly-to-the-earth in the grass and start crawling upwind, hunting, it might be very important to remember that those fourteen lions are still there:

But if you doing next-token language prediction, even as modified by the demand that you please your RLHF training masters, it seems that having a model of the world in which you can successfully and accurately count things is not so important at all.

References: