[Blindsight by Peter Watts. Consciousness. Perception. Intelligence.]

I would like to recommend "Blindsight", by Peter Watts, a science fiction novel. 

 

Available from the usual sources but also available for free on the authors website. It was nominated for best novel in 2007 Hugo Awards. 

 

It comes with footnotes and a bibliography.  

 

http://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

 

This is hard science fiction, despite the fact it has a vampire. Don't let that put you off. Its not about vampires. In connection to the vampire it depicts them as race of humans, long ago diverged on the evolutionary tree, and long since extinct until science discovers their genetics and revives them. 

 

The novel is about a crew of enhanced humans sent off to investigate an alien presence detected in the Kuiper belt, but which eventually leads them into the Oort cloud. 

 

It will challenge your views of consciousness, evolution, identity, and the value of intelligence. The book actually makes a case for the value of non-sentience as a survival strategy. There's nothing I could say that will give anything away. I could lay out the plot and still only capture a fraction of the book.

 

Only 400 pages or so, its a *big* work. I refer you to the Amazon Kindle review pages where will can get a more in depth telling of the book. 

 

Anyone interested in consciousness and selfhood will find this book an intriguing read.  

 

http://www.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/0765319640/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408720112&sr=8-1&keywords=blindsightkei

 

I excerpt one review below:

 

"Blindsight tells of an expedition to investigate the apparent arrival of aliens in the Solar System. A ship, crewed by four strangely enhanced humans and commanded by a genetically recreated vampire, arrives in the far Oort cloud, and discovers an unusual and environmentally hostile object. Attempts to communicate are ambiguous -- it seems to contain intelligent actors, but it offers no real information, and warns them off. Naturally, the humans refuse to leave, and we are treated to attempts to land on the alien "ship" or "device" or whatever -- again met with ambiguous but mostly hostile responses.

 

All this is interesting, but it hides the real interest of the book. The story is told by Siri Keeton, who is essentially autistic, and who "translates" the observations of the oddly altered specialists on the mission to terms that "normal" humans back on Earth can understand. So we learn something of the nature of these enhanced people: one is a vampire, one is a military genius of sorts, one has a cybernetic sensorium, and one, a linguist, has (on purpose) multiple personalities. In addition we learn of Siri Keeton's personal life: a mother who has retreated to a simulation, an often absent "spook" father, a love affair with a woman who specializes in tailored brain chemistry alterations.

 

The eventual point of all this, and of the eventually realized true nature of the aliens, is speculation on the nature of concsiousness. Is consciousness real? Is it really useful? Is it necessary for intelligence? How much of the world around us do we really perceive and how much do our brains "simulate" for us? What our our brains capable of? How would predators think differently? Is real communication with aliens possible?

 

Fascinating stuff throughout, wonderful "big idea" SF."

[Stef's recommended reading list?]

Pleeeese. With categories. Doesn't have to be comprehensive, make it a work in progress.

[Help me with my kickstarter]

A bit iffy until the last frame, then yes, I get it. Can't offer you any advice except encouragement.

 

Good luck. 

[Hello from Sydney Australia]

I come via The Joe Rogan Experience, which in turn was an impulse follow on my podcatcher. 

 

So we really are what we find then. I am what I find.

 

Each new information source, each new discovered source of data changes who I am, and sometimes its just dumb stupid luck. 

 

Free will. Really?

 

I stumble into FDR and my life changes. 

 

I do a Google search, go the next page, and my life changes. 

 

Is that who we are? A search result?

 

A serendipitous encounter? 

 

Fuck. Really?

 

 

I'm 50. Male. Divorced. A bus driver, nothing too exciting.

 

I listen to a lot of podcasts, upside to sitting behind a wheel eight hours a day. Many are life changing, with FDR on top. 

 

I'm studying architecture at university. And I'm learning to code, websites, apps, that sort of thing. Thankful that I live in a time when a midlife turnaround is par for the course. And cheap.  

 

Not that I'm changing or anything.

 

Saying hi. 

[Hejsan from educational refugees from Sweden]

I listen to Red Ice Radio, who hail from Sweden. They cover many things, but of late they have been discussing the cultural marxism that is occurring in Sweden, and what appears to be the deliberate destruction of the Swedish culture by mass immigration and a wide reaching program of cultural diversity / socialism. Its happening the world over, but the folks there at Red Ice seem to be fairly upset. In that kind of socialist environment I would think the overregulation of schools is par for the course.

 

Its similar here in Australia, though home schooling is possible I believe, though not without some monitoring. 

 

Despite how the Americans howl about their lost freedoms, America probably remains the freest nation on Earth as regards big government.  

[Hello hello from Romania]

I'm new here too, and I notice that Stefan salts his content heavily with his opinions. He reveals the age old rift between the humanities and the sciences, and may be a too close to his subject to realise his prejudices. The philosopher looks down upon the scientist and his cold mathematics, and the scientist look down upon the philosopher and his tower of arguments. 

 

Makes good linkbait.

[Recently joined the board]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

I must of missed the release of the second Atlas Shrugged movie. I feared it would never come.

 

I can look forward to watching that later tonight.

[Hello from Tennessee]

I still find it strange, of all the ills and pitfalls of our civilisation, that it turns out to be childrearing, and in particular violence to children that is the key to unlocking the stalemate of the human condition.

 

I only ever hit my girl once, and she looked at me with such horror and hurt, such a sense of betrayal in those pretty little eyes, it broke my heart. I never did it again.

 

Good luck to you.

 

I'm new here too. My first post.