Automatic Noodle

160 pages

English, Español language

Published Aug. 5, 2025 by Tor Publishing Group.

ISBN:
978-1-250-35746-5
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(5 reviews)

La visionaria y aclamada y aclamada autora de ciencia ficción Annalee Newitz presenta Automatic Noodle, una novela corta ambientada en un futuro cercano sobre un grupo de robots de servicio de comida abandonados que abren su propio restaurante.

Mientras San Francisco se reconstruye tras el caos de la guerra, un grupo de robots de servicio de comida en una cocina fantasma abandonada se hace con el control de su propia cuenta de app de reparto. Se reinventan como un restaurante de barrio y empiezan a producir algunos de los fideos hechos a mano más sabrosos de la ciudad. Pero hay un problema: alguien, o algo, está bombardeando la página de comentarios del restaurante con falsos informes de "mal servicio". ¿Podrán los robots encontrar al culpable antes de que sus valoraciones se desplomen y destruyan todo lo que han creado?

1 edition

Enjoyable and cozy despite precarious existence

Mostly enjoyed this, the book is getting quite cozy over time.

The bots are interesting, I especially liked Staybehind's ambitions in interior design and how Robles got into the gang.

Below stuff sounds rather negative but isn't as bothersome:

Technical stuff was very 2020, not sure if people will still be identified via their IP address on 2063, but that didn't affect the story. The group chat element was cool.

Am a bit annoyed how this book greatly contemplates the rights of sentient robots and even their perception of "dumb" robots, but repeatedly mentions animals (lambs) exclusively as a source for food without any consideration regarding their life circumstances. This or similar blind spots has been bothering me in several progressive books now.

Also there was a Graeber reference (chapter called "Debt: The first 5000 seconds"). Not that I read that book but still nice to spot. Maybe there's more …

reviewed Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Automatic Noodle

The shtick: intelligent robots traumatized by war, capitalism, and oppression struggle together to establish a noodle shop in war-torn, separatist San Francisco.

Other than thinking robots and tube delivery technology, the worldbuilding is a fever dream of the current moment despite being set in 2064: it's got crypto, LLMs, delivery apps, ghost kitchens, slang like "rizz". But it's unfair to take this aspect too seriously; it's not a hard sf novel trying to speculate about the future. At its heart, it's a comfy emotional novel about forming community around food in a ruined future.

It's fluffy, it's fun, it was something I needed right now.

Subjects

  • Ciencia Ficción
  • Androides