The Mass Effect universe has a similar relationship between biological life and artificial. AI’s are strictly controlled, and the only AI race left is considered a major threat to biological life. The Geth are isolated to a singular star system and are the bogeymen of the universe. However in the latest installment of the franchise, Andromeda introduces Simulated Adaptive Matrix, or SAM. To the rest of the world, it is just another AI that is a tool to help out the expedition into Andromeda. In reality, SAM is an unshackled AI that is attached to a living being that enhances everything they do. In return, SAM learns from the living being’s experiences, memories, feelings, and thoughts. There is a symbiotic relationship between you and SAM. It gets to learn how to become an independent and intelligent being based off of you. The choices you make and the journey you progress through. It is a really interesting idea that the AI’s that are produced by humans to be smarter and faster than us usually can only grow in order to serve their purpose better. SAM grows in the similar manner humans do. It is a modern take on the topic of integrating AI into human society.

Science Fiction also has a constant interest in the relationship between humanity and aliens. Our class focused on three drastically different ideas on this topic. Andromeda by Ivan Yefremov followed alongside a powerful humanity exploring the stars and fighting off monstrous aliens along their journey. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem explores the attempts of the mid-1900s humanity trying to establish a relationship with the massive and completely unreadable entity encompassing the planet Solaris. Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky shows us the aftermath of the violent arrival and disappearance of aliens over the course of two days on Earth. The core difference between the novels is the position of power humanity resides in. From Andromeda to Solaris to Roadside Picnic, it flows from humanity to equality to the aliens respectively. Mass Effect: Andromeda strips humanity of its power by removing the one constant in all of the previous novels: our home. The game places humanity in the situation of escaping the Milky Way from imminent destruction in an attempt to find a new home. What they find is the projected golden worlds to be ravaged by various issues, a hostile alien race prepared to wipe you from the stars, and an ever closer deadline of finding a home for the colonists still frozen in cryostasis. 

Overall, Mass Effect: Andromeda demonstrates the progression of science fiction and how a more visual form of media can realise the imagery used to create the worlds in science fiction. Despite the entertainment-focused purpose of the work and the less than formal medium of the work, it successfully contributes to the ever-growing science fiction genre.