skygiants

Because it's being piloted by an actual person out in orbit somewhere, who is livestreaming all this, and fetishizes The Experience Of Humanity's Pleistocene Ancestors (or is faking it for the viewers, I guess). And The Experience Of Humanity's Pleistocene Ancestors involves hunting animals and roasting them over an open fire and eating them! And stuff!

Upon rereading I thiiiiink Becca is probably right, but also, the book is really not very clear about whether the "remote" was ever a person with their own mind or potential to have such, and I do think that this is an important point to be clear on, especially in a book that's loudly billing itself as interested in expanding the category of who counts as a person with a voice to be listened to.