This is a summary of what I read recently.

1.) C. Robert Cargill - Sea of Rust : Set in a reality after machines have defeated and outlasted humans, this was an interesting story to continue my sci-fi trek, but I found it depressing. It is well written and accurately conveys the despair of its robot main character, which is to say she is trying to survive. To me, it paints humans as stupid meatbags who were greedy and selfish (perhaps this is trying to say something). 6/10. 

2.) George RR. Martin - The Hedge Knight : After watching Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, I wanted to read the novels. This is a great read. It reminded me of the original A Song of Ice and Fire. The two main characters, Dunk and Egg, work well together. Ser Duncan is a underdog, but he plays so well into the righteous character. GRM's world-building is amazing, even in a small book you can visualize the world and what is happening in immense detail. I must acknowledge my bias a bit, I did watch the first few episodes of the series before reading the book. 8.5/10.

3.) Andy Weir - Project Hail Mary : If you've read the Martian, this is a different book. I found it more humorous than the Martian and less serious. It made me laugh and it was analogous to The Deep Sky in the critical mission that was undertaken, where humanity needed to send a group to solve a mass-extinction threat. There's a movie being made about this book; I'm curious to see if it's at parity with it, or what liberties they take. If you like a hard-sci-fi that is light hearted, this is a good read. It doesn't pull you in as hard as The Martian, but it does a great job. 9/10.

After reading some current scifi and older scifi, I can't help but look for newer reads that have tied in mechanics and philosophical issues of a post scarcity world. I'm looking for reads that tie in those questions and involve machines that we collaborate with.

This is me describing what I've read recently in short sentences, take it as you will.

1.) Neil Stephenson - Seveneves : Of all the sci-fi I've read, I didn't expect the ending. Humanity survives a near species ending experience in space, thousands of years later almost kills themselves, but thrives. When I started I hoped that there would be some logical conclusion to open it up for a sequel, but it is wrapped well. 8/10.

2.) William Alexander - Sunward : A quick read; humanity has progressed well into space and lives with robots / autonomous machines. Most humans work as "couriers" to deliver messages. They have colonized most of the solar system, but there remains challenges in delivering messages and accomplishing base tasks. Machines are sentient, human-like. 7/10.

3.) Yume Kitasei - The Deep Sky : Facing significant climate and political problems on Earth, humanity raises a 80-person multi national team of women who are trained and educated to navigate a spaceship to another planet. It's a murder mystery and it isn't immediately obvious who is the culprit. They're frozen for 10 years and awaken to navigate some problems on their journey. I enjoyed this a lot, it felt like a stream of consciousness as it flashed back and forth between the past and present. 9/10.