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Firefall #1
小谢械锌芯谐谢械写
袪芯屑邪薪褗褌 鈥炐⌒恍敌啃拘承恍敌粹€� 薪邪 泻邪薪邪写褋泻懈褟 锌懈褋邪褌械谢 袩懈褌褗褉 校芯褌褋 械 鈥炑傂惭娧€写邪鈥� 薪邪褍褔薪邪 褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈泻邪 褋 褌褉懈谢褗褉芯胁懈 械谢械屑械薪褌懈, 薪邪锌懈褋邪薪 胁 芯褌谢懈褔薪懈褌械 褌褉邪写懈褑懈懈 薪邪 邪胁褌芯褉懈 泻邪褌芯 小褌邪薪懈褋谢邪胁 袥械屑 懈 袚褉械谐褗褉懈 袘械薪褎芯褉写. 袧褟泻芯懈 写芯褉懈 芯锌褉械写械谢褟褌 泻薪懈谐邪褌邪 泻邪褌芯 薪邪褏芯写褔懈胁邪 泻芯屑斜懈薪邪褑懈褟 芯褌 袦邪泄泻褗谢 袣褉邪泄褌褗薪 懈 袗泄蟹褗泻 袗蟹懈屑芯胁, 褋屑械褋胁邪褖邪 褔懈褋褌邪褌邪 薪邪褍泻邪 褋 锌褉懈褔褍写谢懈胁懈 褋褞卸械褌薪懈 械谢械屑械薪褌懈 懈 锌褉芯胁芯泻邪褌懈胁薪懈 锌芯褋谢邪薪懈褟. 鈥炐⌒恍敌啃拘承恍敌粹€� 械 邪斜褋芯谢褞褌薪芯 薪械褍褋褌芯懈屑芯 懈 懈薪褌械谢懈谐械薪褌薪芯 锌芯写薪械褋械薪芯 卸邪薪褉芯胁芯 锌懈褉褕械褋褌胁芯, 褉邪蟹胁懈褌芯 斜谢械褋褌褟褖芯 芯褌 校芯褌褋, 褔懈褟褌芯 褋褌褉邪褋褌 泻褗屑 斜懈芯谢芯谐懈褟褌邪 懈 泻芯谐薪懈褌懈胁薪邪褌邪 锌褋懈褏芯谢芯谐懈褟 械 胁褌褗泻邪薪邪 锌谢邪胁薪芯 胁褗胁 褎邪斜褍谢邪褌邪 薪邪 泻薪懈谐邪褌邪.
360 pages, Paperback
First published October 3, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 5,002 reviews
March 26, 2021
This is a very dense book, packed with ideas. Although Watts mentions he's a biologist by training, you wouldn't know it: between all the astronomical events, the neurological side effects of radiation and methane exposure, and the philosophy of consciousness, it feels like half a college curriculum in here. It also is not an easy book. I ended up waiting to finish it on a free day, where the book and I could spend as much time as we needed. In this way, it reminded me a great deal of Mi茅ville's Embassytown.
The narrative is fragmented into pieces, alternating between a linear description of a sort of first-contact event, and fragments of Siri's life, primarily from his youth and from his only romantic relationship. This is a future Earth where most people have been genetically engineered before birth. As they age, more and more people are choosing to join Heaven, a type of virtual reality for their consciousness, allowing their bodies to be stored elsewhere once they commit. Siri was an epileptic, and had half his brain removed to prevent further seizures. It left him with a curious sense of distance, which he developed into a skill, becoming a professional Synthesete. When an alien invention surveys Earth, a group of people are sent to the most likely place the aliens are lurking. Siri is part of that team as a professional observer.
It's a complicated story, and while Watts does eventually provide many of the explanations (details on Heaven, details on vampires), it a faceted kind of story; you have to hold all these images in your mind and hope that they'll coalesce at some point. They mostly do, although there's a few spots when I think Watts has a few too many puzzle pieces to make into a coherent pattern. I was hoping for some sense of 'ah-ha,' but am instead left with a sense of both stretchy-ness and 'hmm.' The biggest idea is surrounds the idea of the brainstem, of function without consciousness.
"'You think Rorschach grows them on some kind of assembly line. You can't find any genes. Maybe they are just biochemical machines.'
'That's what life is, Keeton. That's what you are.' Another hit of nicotine, another storm of numbers, another sample. 'Life isn't either/or. It's a matter of degree."
I will say that the first contact bits turned out to be absolutely fascinating, as well as the ideas of magnetic atmosphere and methane gases causing issues of health and perception. His discussions on game theory and first contact are depressing as hell and would probably be a real strategy by some people.
Writing is occasionally transcendent. All in all, I'm going to have to bump it up after my second read. While I may not like every one, and certainly hope that humanity will do better, I have to say that this was one of the most stunning first contact stories I've ever read.
Their marriage decayed with the exponential determinism of a radioactive isotope and still he sought her out, and accepted her conditions.
The weakest spot for both me and my co-readers on my second read was the inclusion of the vampire species. It felt somewhat weak, and like there were other mechanisms Watts could have used to accomplish those same goals. Nonetheless, I think it's quite an amazing book, with a lot of food for thought.
Of the 欧宝娱乐 reviews, I would point you towards mark monday's, who addresses the philosophical angle Watts seemed to be heading toward. Lightreads also has an uncharacteristically long, but characteristically brilliant, review that includes a nice note of what the reader is in for, as well as a long segment of Watt's writing. I happen to agree with Lightreads, that I'm guessing it would read best if one is conversant with some of the -ologies in the book. Off the top of my head, linguistics, astronomy, philosophy, evolution, neurology, biology, and physics all play parts in the story.
My edition included a series of mini-essays by Watts about the philosophical foundations of the book. I particularly enjoyed 'Sleight of Mind' (hacking the brain), 'Are We There Yet' (the space travel insight), alien anatomy and physiology, and 'Sentience/Intelligence,' all of which are heavily footnoted, usually with articles or journals. I laughed at footnote #130: "This validates me, and I wish it happened more often. 鹿鲁掳
130: I am by nature insecure. I blame bad parenting."
Note for later--short film Watts consulted on (5 minutes) for re-read (thanks, Caro!):
Read again March 2021, with a lovely group of people: Nataliya, Stephen, Phil and David. Thank you all for your additional insights.
The narrative is fragmented into pieces, alternating between a linear description of a sort of first-contact event, and fragments of Siri's life, primarily from his youth and from his only romantic relationship. This is a future Earth where most people have been genetically engineered before birth. As they age, more and more people are choosing to join Heaven, a type of virtual reality for their consciousness, allowing their bodies to be stored elsewhere once they commit. Siri was an epileptic, and had half his brain removed to prevent further seizures. It left him with a curious sense of distance, which he developed into a skill, becoming a professional Synthesete. When an alien invention surveys Earth, a group of people are sent to the most likely place the aliens are lurking. Siri is part of that team as a professional observer.
It's a complicated story, and while Watts does eventually provide many of the explanations (details on Heaven, details on vampires), it a faceted kind of story; you have to hold all these images in your mind and hope that they'll coalesce at some point. They mostly do, although there's a few spots when I think Watts has a few too many puzzle pieces to make into a coherent pattern. I was hoping for some sense of 'ah-ha,' but am instead left with a sense of both stretchy-ness and 'hmm.' The biggest idea is surrounds the idea of the brainstem, of function without consciousness.
"'You think Rorschach grows them on some kind of assembly line. You can't find any genes. Maybe they are just biochemical machines.'
'That's what life is, Keeton. That's what you are.' Another hit of nicotine, another storm of numbers, another sample. 'Life isn't either/or. It's a matter of degree."
I will say that the first contact bits turned out to be absolutely fascinating, as well as the ideas of magnetic atmosphere and methane gases causing issues of health and perception. His discussions on game theory and first contact are depressing as hell and would probably be a real strategy by some people.
Writing is occasionally transcendent. All in all, I'm going to have to bump it up after my second read. While I may not like every one, and certainly hope that humanity will do better, I have to say that this was one of the most stunning first contact stories I've ever read.
Their marriage decayed with the exponential determinism of a radioactive isotope and still he sought her out, and accepted her conditions.
The weakest spot for both me and my co-readers on my second read was the inclusion of the vampire species. It felt somewhat weak, and like there were other mechanisms Watts could have used to accomplish those same goals. Nonetheless, I think it's quite an amazing book, with a lot of food for thought.
Of the 欧宝娱乐 reviews, I would point you towards mark monday's, who addresses the philosophical angle Watts seemed to be heading toward. Lightreads also has an uncharacteristically long, but characteristically brilliant, review that includes a nice note of what the reader is in for, as well as a long segment of Watt's writing. I happen to agree with Lightreads, that I'm guessing it would read best if one is conversant with some of the -ologies in the book. Off the top of my head, linguistics, astronomy, philosophy, evolution, neurology, biology, and physics all play parts in the story.
My edition included a series of mini-essays by Watts about the philosophical foundations of the book. I particularly enjoyed 'Sleight of Mind' (hacking the brain), 'Are We There Yet' (the space travel insight), alien anatomy and physiology, and 'Sentience/Intelligence,' all of which are heavily footnoted, usually with articles or journals. I laughed at footnote #130: "This validates me, and I wish it happened more often. 鹿鲁掳
130: I am by nature insecure. I blame bad parenting."
Note for later--short film Watts consulted on (5 minutes) for re-read (thanks, Caro!):
Read again March 2021, with a lovely group of people: Nataliya, Stephen, Phil and David. Thank you all for your additional insights.
August 7, 2012
what is Consciousness? how did the silly human race evolve beyond the herd instinct, beyond our reptile brain? how, and why? what is the purpose of our individuality, what is the need for our sense of self, what use is Human Connection, why are we even equipped with Empathy? for some naive, kinda-sorta spiritual folks (like myself), these things may explain the existence of God. but that's rather besides the point of the question. does empathy help us in the long run, does the ability of humans to connect with each other truly offer anything besides constant discomfort and potential danger? is a psychopath who does not experience empathy somehow less than human? how would a highly developed species that has somehow evolved without empathy or individuality react to a species like ours - one that is contantly talking to itself, connecting, empathizing, exploring, throwing itself and its messages out into the void, to seek, to find, to understand, to know?
exploring all of those questions is the purpose of Peter Watts' superb Blindsight. the novel is about one of those Ambiguous Threats Appearing in the Outskirts of Known Space. future Earth is a fucked-up Earth, no surprise there. humans regularly 'ascend' into a fake-sounding cyberheaven. vampires - apparently an extremely predatory offshoot of the homo sapien, complete with an anti-Euclidean mental bias that explains their phobia of crosses - have been revived and now serve the human race (the inclusion of vampires may sound cheesy, but believe me, it is one of more absorbing things about the novel). there is some deadly construct called the Icarus Array located somewhere near the sun, stationed there to "protect" us. sex is an outdated activity (perhaps the sole unconvincing part of the novel). genuine human contact rarely takes place face-to-face. your usual Cold Techno-Dystopia. the Ambiguous Threat is noted shortly after a startling "Firefly" effect occurs over the earth - an effect that appears to be the Ambiguous Threat's way of taking long-distance pictures of human shenanigans.
so the silly humans decide to fling a crew of misfits out into the void to engage with said Ambiguous Threat. there's a woman who has compartmentalized herself into 4 different and distinctly individualistic personalities. there's a military type armed with slaved drones whose biggest flaw/greatest attribute is her ability to empathize with her enemies. there are a couple guys who project their consciousness through machinery, all inputs mediated by that machinery - all the better to study the world around them. there is the ship's captain, a sociopathic vampire mentally bonded to his ship's computer brain. and then there is our hero - a sort of minister of information, missing half a brain, trained to avoid all forms of true connection, unwilling to engage in basic empathy. this fascinating crew finds much to be fascinated with when confronting the Ambiguous Threat. for one, a spaceship that looks like it's from Dante's Inferno. aliens from, well, the Alien films, with some upsetting Predator type invisibility to boot. hallucinations and corresonding loss of self within those hallucinations. strange communications that sound full of villainous bravado - except those communications feel oversimplified, threatening in the most obvious of ways, purposely dumbed-down...to what end? the Ambiguous Threat appears capable of automatically healing its own hull, controlling thousands of asteroids at once, and harnessing the power of a gas giant... yet seems oddly powerless, even uncaring. things don't add up. despite all the crew sees and analyzes, the Ambiguous Threat has a rather terrifying lack of signifiers.
the author is clearly a highly intelligent sort, PhD and everything, and the novel is full of Exra Hard Science Action. but i think folks are really mislabeling Blindsight if they consider it to be genuine Hard Science Fiction. to put it in the corniest of terms: this is a novel about the human condition. look at the dystopic details of this future Earth, review the cast of characters... Blindsight is built on examining all of the different options for humans and nonhumans to connect or not to connect, all the ways that individuals can reach across their individual sense of self to connect with another person's reality. the nature of the Ambiguous Threat and the root of our protagonist's problems are disconcertingly connected: a rejection of individuality; an inability to connect with others. the novel is elegantly constructed so that form follows meaning rather than narrative. this may be frustrating to folks who eschew literary novels in favor of genre fiction. that's understandable... "narrative tension" is definitely lost by the constant switching back and forth between parallel storylines. on the one hand, the protagonist's past life of non-communication and deliberate avoidance of empathy (shades of ); on the other hand, the mission into the void (which itself is rife with pointed character flashblacks). but for Watts to have structured Blindsight in any other way would have been to lose the point of it all. the novel is not really about a dark space adventure. it is about the importance of empathetic connection, its value and its dangers, how it condemns us with one hand and lifts us up to a higher place with the other.
oh, and one last thing... if that last sentence makes you think that this is one of those enriching spiritual journey type of books, think again. this awesome novel is about as bleak and pessimistic as they come. an important warning to keep in mind before approaching: this dog bites!
exploring all of those questions is the purpose of Peter Watts' superb Blindsight. the novel is about one of those Ambiguous Threats Appearing in the Outskirts of Known Space. future Earth is a fucked-up Earth, no surprise there. humans regularly 'ascend' into a fake-sounding cyberheaven. vampires - apparently an extremely predatory offshoot of the homo sapien, complete with an anti-Euclidean mental bias that explains their phobia of crosses - have been revived and now serve the human race (the inclusion of vampires may sound cheesy, but believe me, it is one of more absorbing things about the novel). there is some deadly construct called the Icarus Array located somewhere near the sun, stationed there to "protect" us. sex is an outdated activity (perhaps the sole unconvincing part of the novel). genuine human contact rarely takes place face-to-face. your usual Cold Techno-Dystopia. the Ambiguous Threat is noted shortly after a startling "Firefly" effect occurs over the earth - an effect that appears to be the Ambiguous Threat's way of taking long-distance pictures of human shenanigans.
so the silly humans decide to fling a crew of misfits out into the void to engage with said Ambiguous Threat. there's a woman who has compartmentalized herself into 4 different and distinctly individualistic personalities. there's a military type armed with slaved drones whose biggest flaw/greatest attribute is her ability to empathize with her enemies. there are a couple guys who project their consciousness through machinery, all inputs mediated by that machinery - all the better to study the world around them. there is the ship's captain, a sociopathic vampire mentally bonded to his ship's computer brain. and then there is our hero - a sort of minister of information, missing half a brain, trained to avoid all forms of true connection, unwilling to engage in basic empathy. this fascinating crew finds much to be fascinated with when confronting the Ambiguous Threat. for one, a spaceship that looks like it's from Dante's Inferno. aliens from, well, the Alien films, with some upsetting Predator type invisibility to boot. hallucinations and corresonding loss of self within those hallucinations. strange communications that sound full of villainous bravado - except those communications feel oversimplified, threatening in the most obvious of ways, purposely dumbed-down...to what end? the Ambiguous Threat appears capable of automatically healing its own hull, controlling thousands of asteroids at once, and harnessing the power of a gas giant... yet seems oddly powerless, even uncaring. things don't add up. despite all the crew sees and analyzes, the Ambiguous Threat has a rather terrifying lack of signifiers.
the author is clearly a highly intelligent sort, PhD and everything, and the novel is full of Exra Hard Science Action. but i think folks are really mislabeling Blindsight if they consider it to be genuine Hard Science Fiction. to put it in the corniest of terms: this is a novel about the human condition. look at the dystopic details of this future Earth, review the cast of characters... Blindsight is built on examining all of the different options for humans and nonhumans to connect or not to connect, all the ways that individuals can reach across their individual sense of self to connect with another person's reality. the nature of the Ambiguous Threat and the root of our protagonist's problems are disconcertingly connected: a rejection of individuality; an inability to connect with others. the novel is elegantly constructed so that form follows meaning rather than narrative. this may be frustrating to folks who eschew literary novels in favor of genre fiction. that's understandable... "narrative tension" is definitely lost by the constant switching back and forth between parallel storylines. on the one hand, the protagonist's past life of non-communication and deliberate avoidance of empathy (shades of ); on the other hand, the mission into the void (which itself is rife with pointed character flashblacks). but for Watts to have structured Blindsight in any other way would have been to lose the point of it all. the novel is not really about a dark space adventure. it is about the importance of empathetic connection, its value and its dangers, how it condemns us with one hand and lifts us up to a higher place with the other.
oh, and one last thing... if that last sentence makes you think that this is one of those enriching spiritual journey type of books, think again. this awesome novel is about as bleak and pessimistic as they come. an important warning to keep in mind before approaching: this dog bites!
January 8, 2022
This is one of the weirdest books I鈥檝e ever read.
April 24, 2021
This book was absolutely nothing like I expected. Little did I know that for my hard SF adventure I needed to be comfortable not only with astronomy and physics and biology but also a hefty dose of philosophy and neuroscience and evolution 鈥� and a mind-boggling exploration not even into the nature of conscience but in its utility or complete lack thereof. There are enough abstract concepts for my mind not just to grapple with but to grudgingly admit defeat against.
What is it about? Well, on a surface it鈥檚 a First Contact story involving a crew of mentally and biologically augmented humans - or rather posthumans - on the 鈥渂leeding edge鈥� of science, one resurrected apex predator (a scientifically plausible vampire with a Right Angle Glitch) and one advanced ship AI 鈥� all coming from the world of genetic engineering and virtual reality 鈥� tasked with exploration of an unknowable alien entity that takes them deep into the Oort Cloud.
And while they indeed find something very much alien in every imaginable way, this stops being your typical science fiction story and becomes a mind-breaking exploration of consciousness and hackable subjectivity of perception and torture and the inherent cruelty of game theory.
It鈥檚 very dense and technical and really requires your full focus, and rereading the passages a few times, and sometimes just staring at the wall while the cogs in the brain try to grind.
And it鈥檚 an unexpected ode to brainstem, that ancient reptilian brain that does all the work while the self-satisfied neocortex rests on its laurels, basking in the glory of that - possibly overrated - consciousness.
It鈥檚 beyond my comprehension, really, to imagine a superbly intelligent creature that yet does not possess that seeming pinnacle of creation, that self-satisfied self-awareness, that crown jewel that gives us humans the tremendous satisfaction and perception of being infinitely better than all those poor non-sentient creatures. After all, if we have it and we are successful, then it鈥檚 the ultimate goal and a prerequisite for success, for *being*. Even our smartest machines would hypothetically need to pass that Turing test for us to award them with true recognition 鈥� the 鈥渂eing-ness鈥� itself.
But what if all that is little but training wheels which are an impediment, really, if you forget to take the, off at some point? And is there any objective difference between feeling empathy and acting as though you feel empathy? And given how fragile it all is, what鈥檚 the point of putting it on the pedestal?
And then the ever-present dilemma of what to do when a new spacefaring intelligence is found. How do we go about friendliness or hostility? Do we assume the same competition approach, that damn zero sum game that served the winners throughout our history? At which point do you decide on the preventive strikes (that fragging euphemism for attack that nevertheless allows us to remain 鈥渢he good guys鈥�) and when do you justify torture itself?
Oh, and it鈥檚 so pessimistic and bleak that you鈥檒l end up blankly staring at a wall for a while after it all ends. That fragging elusive 鈥渉uman condition鈥� that would not have been a problem had we allowed our reptilian brain to truly run the show.
Every theme addressed can sprout volumes upon volumes of frantic writing. But it鈥檚 that concept of consciousness as opposed to intelligence, and the survival / fitness value of those that made it hard for me. Electromagnetic radiation and its effects on the brain? Sure. Alien biology? No problem. Walking corpse syndrome? Alrighty. Spacefaring without consciousness, advanced math without self-awareness? Ummmm, huh???
It鈥檚 a difficult, dense book - but of the kind that makes you think long and hard about the validity of the concepts it discusses, the book that is not going for patting you on the back for putting in the effort but instead throws more challenges at you. It鈥檚 the book that demands concentration and focus and occasional looking up things to make sure you鈥檙e getting it right. It鈥檚 a challenge, and one that I found to be worth the time and investment. It鈥檚 not quite enjoyable in the way I鈥檓 used to, but rather uncomfortably fascinating and definitely not one for mass appeal. And I鈥檓 quite alright with that.
But damn, do I wish it was just a bit less bleak.
4 stars.
鈥斺赌斺赌�
Buddy read with carol., Stephen, Phil and David.
鈥斺赌斺赌�
A link to a 5-minute short film that鈥檚 basically a trailer for this book (shamelessly stolen from carol鈥檚 review):
鈥斺赌斺赌�
My much less enthusiastic review of the sequel, Echopraxia: /review/show...
What is it about? Well, on a surface it鈥檚 a First Contact story involving a crew of mentally and biologically augmented humans - or rather posthumans - on the 鈥渂leeding edge鈥� of science, one resurrected apex predator (a scientifically plausible vampire with a Right Angle Glitch) and one advanced ship AI 鈥� all coming from the world of genetic engineering and virtual reality 鈥� tasked with exploration of an unknowable alien entity that takes them deep into the Oort Cloud.
鈥淎nd so we waited: four optimized hybrids somewhere past the threshold of mere humanity, one extinct predator who'd opted to command us instead of eating us alive.鈥�
And while they indeed find something very much alien in every imaginable way, this stops being your typical science fiction story and becomes a mind-breaking exploration of consciousness and hackable subjectivity of perception and torture and the inherent cruelty of game theory.
鈥淚magine a crown of thorns, twisted, dark and unreflective, grown too thickly tangled to ever rest on any human head. Put it in orbit around a failed star whose own reflected half-light does little more than throw its satellites into silhouette. Occasional bloody highlights glinted like dim embers from its twists and crannies; they only emphasized the darkness everywhere else.
Imagine an artefact that embodies the very notion of torture, something so wrenched and disfigured that even across uncounted lightyears and unimaginable differences in biology and outlook, you can't help but feel that somehow, the structure itself is in pain.
Now make it the size of a city.鈥�
It鈥檚 very dense and technical and really requires your full focus, and rereading the passages a few times, and sometimes just staring at the wall while the cogs in the brain try to grind.
And it鈥檚 an unexpected ode to brainstem, that ancient reptilian brain that does all the work while the self-satisfied neocortex rests on its laurels, basking in the glory of that - possibly overrated - consciousness.
It鈥檚 beyond my comprehension, really, to imagine a superbly intelligent creature that yet does not possess that seeming pinnacle of creation, that self-satisfied self-awareness, that crown jewel that gives us humans the tremendous satisfaction and perception of being infinitely better than all those poor non-sentient creatures. After all, if we have it and we are successful, then it鈥檚 the ultimate goal and a prerequisite for success, for *being*. Even our smartest machines would hypothetically need to pass that Turing test for us to award them with true recognition 鈥� the 鈥渂eing-ness鈥� itself.
鈥淧oint being you can use basic pattern-matching algorithms to participate in a conversation without having any idea what you're saying. Depending on how good your rules are, you can pass a Turing test.鈥�
But what if all that is little but training wheels which are an impediment, really, if you forget to take the, off at some point? And is there any objective difference between feeling empathy and acting as though you feel empathy? And given how fragile it all is, what鈥檚 the point of putting it on the pedestal?
鈥淲hat's the survival value of obsessing on a sunset?鈥�
And then the ever-present dilemma of what to do when a new spacefaring intelligence is found. How do we go about friendliness or hostility? Do we assume the same competition approach, that damn zero sum game that served the winners throughout our history? At which point do you decide on the preventive strikes (that fragging euphemism for attack that nevertheless allows us to remain 鈥渢he good guys鈥�) and when do you justify torture itself?
鈥淜illing innocents is the least of the risks you're running; you're gambling with the fate of worlds, provoking conflict with a star faring technology whose sole offense was to take your picture without permission.鈥�
鈥淭his is how you communicate with a fellow intelligence: you hurt it, and keep on hurting it, until you can distinguish the speech from the screams.鈥�
鈥淪he'd just fallen back on the oldest trick in the Torturer's Handbook, the one that lets you go home to your family after work, and play with your children, and sleep at night: never humanize your victims.鈥�
Oh, and it鈥檚 so pessimistic and bleak that you鈥檒l end up blankly staring at a wall for a while after it all ends. That fragging elusive 鈥渉uman condition鈥� that would not have been a problem had we allowed our reptilian brain to truly run the show.
Every theme addressed can sprout volumes upon volumes of frantic writing. But it鈥檚 that concept of consciousness as opposed to intelligence, and the survival / fitness value of those that made it hard for me. Electromagnetic radiation and its effects on the brain? Sure. Alien biology? No problem. Walking corpse syndrome? Alrighty. Spacefaring without consciousness, advanced math without self-awareness? Ummmm, huh???
鈥淏ecause if Sarasti was right, scramblers were the norm: evolution across the universe was nothing but the endless proliferation of automatic, organized complexity, a vast arid Turing machine full of self-replicating machinery forever unaware of its own existence. And we鈥攚e were the flukes and the fossils. We were the flightless birds lauding our own mastery over some remote island while serpents and carnivores washed up on our shores.鈥�
鈥淭here's no such things as survival of the fittest. Survival of the most adequate, maybe. It doesn't matter whether a solution's optimal. All that matters is whether it beats the alternative.鈥�
It鈥檚 a difficult, dense book - but of the kind that makes you think long and hard about the validity of the concepts it discusses, the book that is not going for patting you on the back for putting in the effort but instead throws more challenges at you. It鈥檚 the book that demands concentration and focus and occasional looking up things to make sure you鈥檙e getting it right. It鈥檚 a challenge, and one that I found to be worth the time and investment. It鈥檚 not quite enjoyable in the way I鈥檓 used to, but rather uncomfortably fascinating and definitely not one for mass appeal. And I鈥檓 quite alright with that.
But damn, do I wish it was just a bit less bleak.
4 stars.
鈥淚 shook my head. "I just observe, that's all. I watch what people do, and then I imagine what would make them do that."
"Sounds like empathy to me."
"It's not. Empathy's not so much about imagining how the other guy feels. It's more about imagining how you'd feel in the same place, right?"
Pag frowned. "So?"
"So what if you don't know how you'd feel?鈥�
鈥斺赌斺赌�
Buddy read with carol., Stephen, Phil and David.
鈥斺赌斺赌�
A link to a 5-minute short film that鈥檚 basically a trailer for this book (shamelessly stolen from carol鈥檚 review):
鈥斺赌斺赌�
My much less enthusiastic review of the sequel, Echopraxia: /review/show...
June 4, 2007
Okay, I gave this book TWO second chances because I had heard great things about it, but I eventually gave up.
It's certainly a gutsy choice to have a person with no empathy as your main character, but it's pretty hard to get readers to care about someone who has only a vaguely intellectual interest in other people. Especially if the story is told in the first person by this character.
So as a result, we know that one guy is a vampire, and another guy has some kind of prosthetic senses, and there's a military woman and another woman with a multiple personality. We don't really get to know much else about them, or at least not by page 183.
The other problem I had with this book was that it was hard to picture exactly where everyone was and what they were doing in whatever scene. Most of the action takes place in a spaceship, and you never get a clear idea of how it's set up, plus there are all these sort of virtual-reality things going on at the same time, and the vampire guy tends to hide out in his room and you don't really know where that is, and I think there are supposed to be some kind of tents that the people live in? On a spaceship? I don't know.
Anyway, it's not that a book has to be easy to read; I like books that are complicated, but I think it's the mark of a good writer that you shouldn't have to be wondering where the aft thruster maintenance room is instead of just being engrossed in the story.
It's certainly a gutsy choice to have a person with no empathy as your main character, but it's pretty hard to get readers to care about someone who has only a vaguely intellectual interest in other people. Especially if the story is told in the first person by this character.
So as a result, we know that one guy is a vampire, and another guy has some kind of prosthetic senses, and there's a military woman and another woman with a multiple personality. We don't really get to know much else about them, or at least not by page 183.
The other problem I had with this book was that it was hard to picture exactly where everyone was and what they were doing in whatever scene. Most of the action takes place in a spaceship, and you never get a clear idea of how it's set up, plus there are all these sort of virtual-reality things going on at the same time, and the vampire guy tends to hide out in his room and you don't really know where that is, and I think there are supposed to be some kind of tents that the people live in? On a spaceship? I don't know.
Anyway, it's not that a book has to be easy to read; I like books that are complicated, but I think it's the mark of a good writer that you shouldn't have to be wondering where the aft thruster maintenance room is instead of just being engrossed in the story.
April 5, 2013
Wow. This was a tough one. It was a very good hard sf book that I don't think I'll be coming back to anytime soon. As others have said: "abandon all hope ye who enter here." A well written, excruciating exploration of the human "problem" where it turns out that it really is a problem. How do you take a book whose central premise seems to be that the development of self-awareness in human evolution was a wrong turn that wasn't meant to happen at all? That it was in fact contrary to the entire development of intelligence throughout the rest of the universe that only occurred due to a fluke in the evolution of a competing species? Talk about being alone in an uncaring reality. Watts manages to take Lovecraft's primary hobby horse and make it work in a way that is truly frightening in its utter nihilism. This isn't a scary universe because Watts tells us so (as it would have been had Lovecraft wrote the tale), it's scary because he shows us so.
Our primary filter for information is Siri Keeton, a man with literally only half a brain. Due to a childhood trauma he was essentially lobotomized and given computer processors to make up for what was removed. Siri obviously lost a lot during the process, but "gained" the ability to be the ultimate "Chinese Room" for humanity...for all that was worth. His whole life he has been trying to understand even 'baseline' humans and his facility with doing so, with looking at the human enigma on the surface and from the outside, and parsing it correctly has led him to become a professional conduit between these baseline humans and the posthuman entities they have created and made to work for them. He is a uniquely appropriate narrator for this tale as his very mode of existence showcases Watts' entire argument in microcosm; and interestingly his entire development as a character is the reverse of the development of the story and even of the universe itself. Siri's story starts and ends as a very lonely one, but for very different reasons.
Another fascinating element of the tale is the fairly unique use of vampires as an off-shoot sub-species of humanity originally destroyed due to humanity's self-awareness and then brought back by high science to be our servants. These are probably the most frightening vampires I've yet come across in fiction, not only because of the pseudo-scientific "plausibility", but primarily because of what we eventually discover about them in the story's conclusion.
I will say very little about "Rorschach", the alien entity with whom humanity attempts to communicate in this tale of first contact, except to say that the Lovecraftian enigma of its seeming indifference to human existence is truly chilling in its implications. Far more than any dreaming Cthulhu, Rorschach is an entity whose strangeness is truly to be feared.
All in all this was a rewarding, though deeply uncomfortable, read.
Also posted on
Our primary filter for information is Siri Keeton, a man with literally only half a brain. Due to a childhood trauma he was essentially lobotomized and given computer processors to make up for what was removed. Siri obviously lost a lot during the process, but "gained" the ability to be the ultimate "Chinese Room" for humanity...for all that was worth. His whole life he has been trying to understand even 'baseline' humans and his facility with doing so, with looking at the human enigma on the surface and from the outside, and parsing it correctly has led him to become a professional conduit between these baseline humans and the posthuman entities they have created and made to work for them. He is a uniquely appropriate narrator for this tale as his very mode of existence showcases Watts' entire argument in microcosm; and interestingly his entire development as a character is the reverse of the development of the story and even of the universe itself. Siri's story starts and ends as a very lonely one, but for very different reasons.
Another fascinating element of the tale is the fairly unique use of vampires as an off-shoot sub-species of humanity originally destroyed due to humanity's self-awareness and then brought back by high science to be our servants. These are probably the most frightening vampires I've yet come across in fiction, not only because of the pseudo-scientific "plausibility", but primarily because of what we eventually discover about them in the story's conclusion.
I will say very little about "Rorschach", the alien entity with whom humanity attempts to communicate in this tale of first contact, except to say that the Lovecraftian enigma of its seeming indifference to human existence is truly chilling in its implications. Far more than any dreaming Cthulhu, Rorschach is an entity whose strangeness is truly to be feared.
All in all this was a rewarding, though deeply uncomfortable, read.
Also posted on
September 19, 2015
This is one of those novels that make me feel like it's a wonder to be alive. Of course, that's a subjective statement implying consciousness, and therefore I am an evolutionary throwback who is spinning his wheels. And because I read this book and feel that the logic is unassailable, I still happen to think this novel makes me feel like it's a wonder to be alive.
Notice, of course, that this is the inverse of a depressive reasoning, and this is intentional, because this novel makes me feel like it's a wonder to be alive.
If I were a computer, I might call this a halting state. If I were a man with half a brain, I might never have had this problem to begin with.
I think that's rather the point. I love this novel. It goes way beyond a simple entertainment factor and pushes me hard into the abyss of philosophy, and as I laugh and flail my arms about, thinking about the lovecraftian horror that's building an artifact ten times larger than jupiter in our solar system, I wonder if I'll ever leave this book again.
Indeed, I'm thinking about rereading it right away.
All of the characters are beyond fascinating. Check out anyone's review for this book and you'll see what I mean. Was I skeptical about a vampire captain of a spacecraft? You better believe it. On the other hand, Watts pulled this off with so much panache that the bloodsucker is now living in my brain. How did this happen? I've read way more than my fair share of vampire novels. This is almost the diametrical opposite of all of those. It's not only the evolutionary standpoint. It's the way he's given the vampire truly superhuman mentation a-la quantum computer AI's allowing for massive superposition computations. I laughed for ten minutes when I discovered why intersecting right angles tended to blow vampire minds.
Of course, it's not that cut and dried, either. His character was well rounded and as alien as everyone else. It's kind of the point. Only the most alien among us are the most qualified to parley with the truly alien. It's reasonable in context and execution.
I can't say that the real alien was more fascinating that the narrator or the vampire, and that's actually something because the alien was freaking awesome.
I absolutely love the ongoing discussion about consciousness, as it relates to the characters, and how it relates to the planet-busting sociopathic alien. It's treatment was probably the best I've ever read, in any format. It was certainly a lot more entertaining than any other.
The only other sci-fi novel to come close to the philosophical bent of this one was Anathem by Stephenson, but that's about as close to a comparison as I can get. Neither novel intersects much, whether by tone, action, or subject.
I can't believe I hadn't read this Hugo runner up of 2007 until now. Sometimes I feel as if I've been living under a rock. This novel is and will be an ongoing classic of literature. It should be on your real bookshelf if you say you love science fiction.
Notice, of course, that this is the inverse of a depressive reasoning, and this is intentional, because this novel makes me feel like it's a wonder to be alive.
If I were a computer, I might call this a halting state. If I were a man with half a brain, I might never have had this problem to begin with.
I think that's rather the point. I love this novel. It goes way beyond a simple entertainment factor and pushes me hard into the abyss of philosophy, and as I laugh and flail my arms about, thinking about the lovecraftian horror that's building an artifact ten times larger than jupiter in our solar system, I wonder if I'll ever leave this book again.
Indeed, I'm thinking about rereading it right away.
All of the characters are beyond fascinating. Check out anyone's review for this book and you'll see what I mean. Was I skeptical about a vampire captain of a spacecraft? You better believe it. On the other hand, Watts pulled this off with so much panache that the bloodsucker is now living in my brain. How did this happen? I've read way more than my fair share of vampire novels. This is almost the diametrical opposite of all of those. It's not only the evolutionary standpoint. It's the way he's given the vampire truly superhuman mentation a-la quantum computer AI's allowing for massive superposition computations. I laughed for ten minutes when I discovered why intersecting right angles tended to blow vampire minds.
Of course, it's not that cut and dried, either. His character was well rounded and as alien as everyone else. It's kind of the point. Only the most alien among us are the most qualified to parley with the truly alien. It's reasonable in context and execution.
I can't say that the real alien was more fascinating that the narrator or the vampire, and that's actually something because the alien was freaking awesome.
I absolutely love the ongoing discussion about consciousness, as it relates to the characters, and how it relates to the planet-busting sociopathic alien. It's treatment was probably the best I've ever read, in any format. It was certainly a lot more entertaining than any other.
The only other sci-fi novel to come close to the philosophical bent of this one was Anathem by Stephenson, but that's about as close to a comparison as I can get. Neither novel intersects much, whether by tone, action, or subject.
I can't believe I hadn't read this Hugo runner up of 2007 until now. Sometimes I feel as if I've been living under a rock. This novel is and will be an ongoing classic of literature. It should be on your real bookshelf if you say you love science fiction.
July 15, 2020
I spent a majority of this book being lost. Not so lost in the ludicrous amounts of science jargon as I was confused by the "who/what is this?" Though the author sacrifices story and pacing at every convenience to flex his brain and show off all the cutting edge science theory he reviewed to prepare for writing this, my main bitch is simply not being able to follow even basic conversations held between characters. Every character/space ship/astral body in this book has a name, and possibly an additional nickname. You better set the brief description associated with that name in stone the first time through because there are almost NO context clues to help you figure out what type of object the author is referring to afterwards. I'm glad that the cover of this book has a picture of what the main space ship looks like, otherwise I would have never known how the main setting was laid out. I'm sure the ship was described at some point, but the author probably referred to it's nickname, and shoved in tedious minutia details to really bore me into not remembering. Here is a list my further bitching that I'm not going to elaborate on:
1. The main human character is largely un-relatable and has zero emotion at any point.
2. Secondary characters are all the same character (personality-wise), save the vampire.
3. There is a vampire in this book for no god damn reason.
4. The first chapter starts out suspiciously like the first chapter of .
5. Secondary character introductions are made 100 pages too late.
6. Seemingly inconsequential plot points are glossed over, then revealed to be incredibly important in the last chapter. The last chapter? I can't believe I made it to the last chapter.
1. The main human character is largely un-relatable and has zero emotion at any point.
2. Secondary characters are all the same character (personality-wise), save the vampire.
3. There is a vampire in this book for no god damn reason.
4. The first chapter starts out suspiciously like the first chapter of .
5. Secondary character introductions are made 100 pages too late.
6. Seemingly inconsequential plot points are glossed over, then revealed to be incredibly important in the last chapter. The last chapter? I can't believe I made it to the last chapter.
August 10, 2014
Yeeeaahhh... I'm kinda not sure what I just read or how I should feel about this book. So, I'm going to revert to my usual fallback position of "random typing to see what words show up" and call it a review.
Look ma, no consciousness! O_o
So, one the one hand, I can see how certain types of readers would think this book is brilliant and love it. This is smart, hard sci-fi, dealing with matters of humanity (as most SF does) and asking some really interesting questions about what sentience is and what makes human consciousness and intelligence unique. On that level, I think this book was great. Smarter than me, for sure, but I can appreciate that. I ain't mad atcha, book!
Unfortunately, on just about every OTHER level, for me, this was a big letdown. I think that a lot of that is due to my expectations. This is one of the reasons why I like to go in to a book without knowing anything about it. Blind, if you will. (See what I did there?) But with this one... I was at the point of giving up on it and so I broke down and got some perspective on the book from others reading it. That didn't work out for me either, though.
Based on the discussion (and the genres on the book page, to be fair), I really thought that this was going to be a SF Horror book, complete with a comparison to the movie Event Horizon - a comparison that I don't see at all. I kept waiting for the book to get super depraved and horrorish... and I waited in vain. There was a tiny portion of the book where it seemed that it could go that way, but I blinked and almost missed it.
So, my expectations for what this book actually was definitely hurt my enjoyment, but having no expectations at all wasn't any better because I was bored and confused and really struggling with understanding the narrative and structure and what was actually being relayed.
I don't think that I'm a stupid person, nor a lazy reader. I do read mostly for enjoyment, but I also read to learn and experience new ideas, etc. I am willing to work to earn a payoff. But for me, this book was all work, and no payoff. I came out of this book thinking that it could have been much cleaner and much more structured and would have been a better book for it. I don't mind the multiple storylines or flashbacks or the characters who don't use pronouns or anything other than present verb tenses. I'm fine with those things, though the dialogue is super technical and confusing before adding those quirks in. Just sayin'. What I'm referring to regarding the structure is mainly the beginning, where every little mini-chapter gives us a little drop-you-in-the-moment snippet of infodump, some in first person, some in second person, all in faith that the reader will be a patient one and stick with it despite having no idea what the hell any of it means.
But, you know, as I type this, I kinda think that I'm actually starting to appreciate it a little more because I'm realizing that all of what I just said about the confusion really just puts the reader that much more into the story directly. BUT- it's one of those books that you'd likely have to read at least twice to really fully appreciate.
It really did require almost insane levels of patience for me to complete it. So much of the book is just info and tech specs and observation, and try as I might to find it interesting, it bored me for a huge chunk of the book. The last 10% or so brought it all together, and looking at the WHOLE, it's a much more cohesive story than it seemed to be as I was reading it.
*Sigh* So I've come full circle. It's brilliant, but damn frustrating. Yup. That about sums it up, so I'm giving it 2 stars for the frustration and one additional for the retrospective brilliance.
January 26, 2024
*** 2024 reread -
So 鈥� you鈥檙e 鈥渞ereading鈥� after having first read this book in - checks notes - November of 2023? A couple of months ago?
Yes, this book baffled and perplexed me so that I went and grabbed by book club and we all ganged up on the book.
I鈥檓 still perplexed.
One of the many great things about my book club is that we are almost never in complete agreement on a book. In over a dozen years reading the same books with this group of scholars, librarians, friends of the library, science fiction aficionados and escape artists, reading a book a month, so well over a hundred books, I don鈥檛 think we鈥檝e ever completely agreed on a book.
We didn鈥檛 agree on this one either.
There鈥檚 just a lot going on and working on many different levels. We talked about how readers may make a comparison to William Gibson and I can see that not though I missed it before.
Dense. Several reviewers commented on how this is a dense narrative and I can agree with that and that draws further comparisons to Herbert or Wolfe.
I鈥檓 going to read the sequel.
***
Weird book, but good, I liked it, maybe liked it a lot.
The rating - this book was mesmerizing and amazing. It also got on my nerves. I literally considered giving this a 1 star, a 2, 3, 4 and even tossed around the idea of a 5 for various reasons. Did I ultimately like it? Yes, so it does not get a 1 or 2. Was it life changing, did I love it? No, so no 5 star. 3 or 4. The writing was excellent and so I鈥檓 leaning towards a 4. We鈥檒l come back to this.
What鈥檚 it about? Sort of a first contact story, but much more than just that. This is about a post-scarcity society where some folks check out of existence and live in a virtual reality heaven. Many if not most people in this future setting are enhanced in some ways, many genetically. There is a threat to Earth and our intrepid protagonists venture out to confront the bad guys.
Except, are they really bad guys? Are they so alien that binary definitions like good and bad maybe don鈥檛 work so well?
Not gonna lie, writing this review has caused me fits. Your otherwise pithy and erudite suburban caveman became flummoxed with the task of trying to describe this tasty bit of SF.
So I won鈥檛.
Not in the usual sense. Let me refer you, dear GR friends, to Carol or mark or Nataliya for excellent summaries and overviews on this very interesting work. I鈥檓 going to take mark鈥檚 learned counsel and just talk about one aspect of the book that especially engaged my reading enjoyment.
There is a vampire in the book!
Wait, didn鈥檛 you say this was an outer space far future science fiction book?
YES! There are space vampires!
OK, wait. That sounds a lot like some kitschy retro SF with globe helmets and Heinleinesque 50s era dialogue. 鈥淲atch out, Ace! The space vampire is on our tail and gaining fast!鈥� And then 鈥淩oger that, Lieutenant, break out the Euclidian right angle anti-vampire display, that should slow him down!鈥�
No, not that. Nor even an absurdist but fun satire. There is an actual ancient predator prowling the zero gravity wells and, incredibly, he鈥檚 on our side. Sort of.
Seems that one of the many genetic tomfooleries going on in this world building is that scientists have lost their ever loving rabbit assed minds and have resurrected from creepy old DNA actual vampires. Apparently they were offshoots of humanity back in the Pleistocene. The 鈥渋nternet鈥� tells me that the Pleistocene epoch took place in theaters about 2.5 million years ago and finally wrapped up around 11,000 years ago. So there is some racial memory of these monsters and turns out that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e afraid of the dark! Who knew? [space shrug]
Anyway.
Watts鈥� inclusion of the vampire in this novel is unique and only one of the many elements of this that make it work. Watts鈥� writing, the language he uses and the prose that comes out as a result is gifted. There鈥檚 lots of high tech mumbo jumbo, various and sundry SF details that would fit in most any Sci-Fi fun factory.
So why the vampire?
Here鈥檚 what I think: this is not really a first contact story, not even really a SF novel except in the surface story. What is swimming around down in the murky depths is a story about consciousness and existential dread. The vampire in space is a none too subtle reminder that even if we鈥檙e fancy pants space travelers, down deep in what makes us human, there is still a hunter gatherer who, correctly, fears what lurks in the shadows. We are, and always will be, a mammal on the plain.
Or it鈥檚 a cool book about first contact and Oh by the way there are space vampires.
Boo!
So 鈥� you鈥檙e 鈥渞ereading鈥� after having first read this book in - checks notes - November of 2023? A couple of months ago?
Yes, this book baffled and perplexed me so that I went and grabbed by book club and we all ganged up on the book.
I鈥檓 still perplexed.
One of the many great things about my book club is that we are almost never in complete agreement on a book. In over a dozen years reading the same books with this group of scholars, librarians, friends of the library, science fiction aficionados and escape artists, reading a book a month, so well over a hundred books, I don鈥檛 think we鈥檝e ever completely agreed on a book.
We didn鈥檛 agree on this one either.
There鈥檚 just a lot going on and working on many different levels. We talked about how readers may make a comparison to William Gibson and I can see that not though I missed it before.
Dense. Several reviewers commented on how this is a dense narrative and I can agree with that and that draws further comparisons to Herbert or Wolfe.
I鈥檓 going to read the sequel.
***
Weird book, but good, I liked it, maybe liked it a lot.
The rating - this book was mesmerizing and amazing. It also got on my nerves. I literally considered giving this a 1 star, a 2, 3, 4 and even tossed around the idea of a 5 for various reasons. Did I ultimately like it? Yes, so it does not get a 1 or 2. Was it life changing, did I love it? No, so no 5 star. 3 or 4. The writing was excellent and so I鈥檓 leaning towards a 4. We鈥檒l come back to this.
What鈥檚 it about? Sort of a first contact story, but much more than just that. This is about a post-scarcity society where some folks check out of existence and live in a virtual reality heaven. Many if not most people in this future setting are enhanced in some ways, many genetically. There is a threat to Earth and our intrepid protagonists venture out to confront the bad guys.
Except, are they really bad guys? Are they so alien that binary definitions like good and bad maybe don鈥檛 work so well?
Not gonna lie, writing this review has caused me fits. Your otherwise pithy and erudite suburban caveman became flummoxed with the task of trying to describe this tasty bit of SF.
So I won鈥檛.
Not in the usual sense. Let me refer you, dear GR friends, to Carol or mark or Nataliya for excellent summaries and overviews on this very interesting work. I鈥檓 going to take mark鈥檚 learned counsel and just talk about one aspect of the book that especially engaged my reading enjoyment.
There is a vampire in the book!
Wait, didn鈥檛 you say this was an outer space far future science fiction book?
YES! There are space vampires!
OK, wait. That sounds a lot like some kitschy retro SF with globe helmets and Heinleinesque 50s era dialogue. 鈥淲atch out, Ace! The space vampire is on our tail and gaining fast!鈥� And then 鈥淩oger that, Lieutenant, break out the Euclidian right angle anti-vampire display, that should slow him down!鈥�
No, not that. Nor even an absurdist but fun satire. There is an actual ancient predator prowling the zero gravity wells and, incredibly, he鈥檚 on our side. Sort of.
Seems that one of the many genetic tomfooleries going on in this world building is that scientists have lost their ever loving rabbit assed minds and have resurrected from creepy old DNA actual vampires. Apparently they were offshoots of humanity back in the Pleistocene. The 鈥渋nternet鈥� tells me that the Pleistocene epoch took place in theaters about 2.5 million years ago and finally wrapped up around 11,000 years ago. So there is some racial memory of these monsters and turns out that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e afraid of the dark! Who knew? [space shrug]
Anyway.
Watts鈥� inclusion of the vampire in this novel is unique and only one of the many elements of this that make it work. Watts鈥� writing, the language he uses and the prose that comes out as a result is gifted. There鈥檚 lots of high tech mumbo jumbo, various and sundry SF details that would fit in most any Sci-Fi fun factory.
So why the vampire?
Here鈥檚 what I think: this is not really a first contact story, not even really a SF novel except in the surface story. What is swimming around down in the murky depths is a story about consciousness and existential dread. The vampire in space is a none too subtle reminder that even if we鈥檙e fancy pants space travelers, down deep in what makes us human, there is still a hunter gatherer who, correctly, fears what lurks in the shadows. We are, and always will be, a mammal on the plain.
Or it鈥檚 a cool book about first contact and Oh by the way there are space vampires.
Boo!
April 27, 2017
馃懡3.5/5馃懡
**So this review will be extremely short**
Okay so I have decided hardcore sci-fi isn't my thing, I get confused with all the descriptions and literally had to google half the words in this book. The writing was a little tedious, 100 pages in and I still didn't have a clue what was going on and nearly put down as DNF. However this book turned amazing at the half way point & I literally couldn't put it down, it was fascinating, creepy, warped, wonderful & extremely different. When people talk about horror in sci-fi, I imagine something pretty cheesy. This book had no cheese what so ever and was actually pretty creepy. I had goosebumps and had to check my wardrobe for aliens, before bed. So if you like shitting your pants, this book is for you.
So overall I enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it to all fans of sci-fi & horror.
Ps it had the most badass space vampires ever.
Buddy read with my fellow Katie Perry fanboy;Sir Twerks
**So this review will be extremely short**
鈥淗e wasn't just grasping at the limb, I realized as I joined them. He was tugging at it. He was trying to pull it off.
Something laughed hysterically, right inside my helmet.鈥�
Okay so I have decided hardcore sci-fi isn't my thing, I get confused with all the descriptions and literally had to google half the words in this book. The writing was a little tedious, 100 pages in and I still didn't have a clue what was going on and nearly put down as DNF. However this book turned amazing at the half way point & I literally couldn't put it down, it was fascinating, creepy, warped, wonderful & extremely different. When people talk about horror in sci-fi, I imagine something pretty cheesy. This book had no cheese what so ever and was actually pretty creepy. I had goosebumps and had to check my wardrobe for aliens, before bed. So if you like shitting your pants, this book is for you.
So overall I enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it to all fans of sci-fi & horror.
Ps it had the most badass space vampires ever.
Buddy read with my fellow Katie Perry fanboy;Sir Twerks
May 23, 2025
You know you're in for trouble when the dedication of the book says:
"If we're not in pain, we're not alive."
One of the quotes before the novel starts is:
"you will die like a dog for no good reason"
And the quote that starts the first chapter is one by Ted Bundy!
But still, it's a sci-fi book about consciousness...how could I not love it?
-----------------------------------------
I've always loved Science Fiction, and not just because books about the future are inherently cool. The reason I've always loved science fiction is because I've always loved philosophy. From a young age I enjoyed thinking about what makes us human, what is the nature of "self", what is the nature of reality, and a host of other questions along those lines. Science fiction stories are able to take philosophical thought experiments and put them into a literal environment. This type of setting might not serve to replace an in-depth philosophical or scientific analysis, but it will certainly serve to prompt your mind into a continued exploration of these ideas, with the benefit of telling the story in a far more interesting way than can be done in 1800s London! (sorry Dickens)
Blindsight might be one of the most superb books I've ever read at this type of story telling. In part because every aspect of this book is infused with it, from the nature of the characters themselves, to the dialog, to the plot. Whether you want your philosophy just beneath the surface or knocking you over the head, this book will deliver...as long as you want both.
On the surface Blindsight is your classic first contact story, with a special team sent to the edge of the solar system to make contact with an alien intelligence. But in this not to distant future humanity has modified itself to the point where none of the characters involved are recognizably human. While this might not be the newest plot device ever, it's not in the realm of physical differences that sets these characters apart, but in mental differences. In the nature of their consciousness. And it is when they finally make contact with the aliens, who, paradoxically, may be intelligent but not sentient, and who further, are not particularly happy to see them, that the story really grabs you by the balls (or whatever you prefer to be grabbed by). Watts was seamlessly able to mix action, terror, and philosophy into one engaging narrative. Something I didn't think could be easily done.
A few of the more interesting questions (to me) in regards to consciousness have to do with why consciousness would ever have evolved. What were its benefits? What were the mechanisms that allowed it to evolve? What function did it serve? Blindsight doesn't attempt to answer any of these questions specifically. But what it does do, and do brilliantly, is pose a whole bunch of related questions that make those questions I asked even more important. Anyone familiar with neurological conditions such as agnosia, neglect, and yes, blindsight, knows that the brain can go wrong in countless ways, radically altering our conscious experience. Anyone who has excelled at a sport or a musical instrument knows that thinking too consciously about something just interferes with your ability to do it well. By pointing out the drawbacks and limitations of consciousness, Watts forces us ask ourselves, "what IS consciousness good for?"
I found something that I wrote some years back, it was just a passing thought that I never explored, but it was this:
If any of these questions interest you, and you enjoy science fiction, and don't mind a bit of a darker bend to you reading material, do yourself a favor and check out this book.
It's also one of the only fiction books I've ever read that actually had a whole section of notes and references after the last chapter, briefly explaining all the legitimate scientific sources the ideas in the book were taken from. Kudos Watts.
"If we're not in pain, we're not alive."
One of the quotes before the novel starts is:
"you will die like a dog for no good reason"
And the quote that starts the first chapter is one by Ted Bundy!
But still, it's a sci-fi book about consciousness...how could I not love it?
-----------------------------------------
I've always loved Science Fiction, and not just because books about the future are inherently cool. The reason I've always loved science fiction is because I've always loved philosophy. From a young age I enjoyed thinking about what makes us human, what is the nature of "self", what is the nature of reality, and a host of other questions along those lines. Science fiction stories are able to take philosophical thought experiments and put them into a literal environment. This type of setting might not serve to replace an in-depth philosophical or scientific analysis, but it will certainly serve to prompt your mind into a continued exploration of these ideas, with the benefit of telling the story in a far more interesting way than can be done in 1800s London! (sorry Dickens)
Blindsight might be one of the most superb books I've ever read at this type of story telling. In part because every aspect of this book is infused with it, from the nature of the characters themselves, to the dialog, to the plot. Whether you want your philosophy just beneath the surface or knocking you over the head, this book will deliver...as long as you want both.
On the surface Blindsight is your classic first contact story, with a special team sent to the edge of the solar system to make contact with an alien intelligence. But in this not to distant future humanity has modified itself to the point where none of the characters involved are recognizably human. While this might not be the newest plot device ever, it's not in the realm of physical differences that sets these characters apart, but in mental differences. In the nature of their consciousness. And it is when they finally make contact with the aliens, who, paradoxically, may be intelligent but not sentient, and who further, are not particularly happy to see them, that the story really grabs you by the balls (or whatever you prefer to be grabbed by). Watts was seamlessly able to mix action, terror, and philosophy into one engaging narrative. Something I didn't think could be easily done.
A few of the more interesting questions (to me) in regards to consciousness have to do with why consciousness would ever have evolved. What were its benefits? What were the mechanisms that allowed it to evolve? What function did it serve? Blindsight doesn't attempt to answer any of these questions specifically. But what it does do, and do brilliantly, is pose a whole bunch of related questions that make those questions I asked even more important. Anyone familiar with neurological conditions such as agnosia, neglect, and yes, blindsight, knows that the brain can go wrong in countless ways, radically altering our conscious experience. Anyone who has excelled at a sport or a musical instrument knows that thinking too consciously about something just interferes with your ability to do it well. By pointing out the drawbacks and limitations of consciousness, Watts forces us ask ourselves, "what IS consciousness good for?"
I found something that I wrote some years back, it was just a passing thought that I never explored, but it was this:
Consciousness almost seems like a bad adaptive trait. It almost gets in the way sometimes. Limits our focus. Why do we have a brain that can store so much data, but this consciousness that has a limit of the awareness of the data.
If any of these questions interest you, and you enjoy science fiction, and don't mind a bit of a darker bend to you reading material, do yourself a favor and check out this book.
It's also one of the only fiction books I've ever read that actually had a whole section of notes and references after the last chapter, briefly explaining all the legitimate scientific sources the ideas in the book were taken from. Kudos Watts.
May 1, 2021
4.5 Stars听
This was a brilliantly unique alien contact story that was like nothing I had ever read (or watched) before. Blending together science fiction and horror, this novel was dark and creepy in a rather innovative way. This narrative was very dense in terms of plot and scientific theory. Admittedly, some of it went over my head, but what I did understand, I absolutely loved. This story was incredibly thought provoking and often mind bending as it discussed topics such communication, intelligence and consciousness. I would highly recommend this fascinating hard scifi novel to any seasoned reader of the genre.
Also, be sure to read the notes at the end, which explained the scientific ideas behind this fictional future. I love it more with a second reread.
This was a brilliantly unique alien contact story that was like nothing I had ever read (or watched) before. Blending together science fiction and horror, this novel was dark and creepy in a rather innovative way. This narrative was very dense in terms of plot and scientific theory. Admittedly, some of it went over my head, but what I did understand, I absolutely loved. This story was incredibly thought provoking and often mind bending as it discussed topics such communication, intelligence and consciousness. I would highly recommend this fascinating hard scifi novel to any seasoned reader of the genre.
Also, be sure to read the notes at the end, which explained the scientific ideas behind this fictional future. I love it more with a second reread.
December 28, 2008
Yes, it is not quite as good as I鈥檇 been told, but orders of magnitude more brilliant than anyone had conveyed. Which statement will be very puzzling to anyone who hasn鈥檛 read the book, but just take my word for it: it makes perfect sense. And yes, this book will deservedly win this year鈥檚 Hugo, if the rumblings are right. Sorry, Temeraire, you鈥檒l have another shot, I鈥檓 sure.
So. The actual review. Summarizing this book is quite difficult without being far too parsimonious or far too verbose. It鈥檚 SF, and there ain鈥檛 much squishy here. It鈥檚 told by Siri Keeton, informational synthesist, professional observer, member of a tiny human expedition sent out to meet an unknown alien presence at the outskirts of the solar system. Mostly human 鈥� it鈥檚 hard to classify people living on the 鈥渂leeding edge鈥� of the future, with edited brains and altered bodies. They meet the Scramblers, an alien race more frighteningly alien than anything I鈥檝e ever seen in any other science fiction. There they are reminded of the eminent hackability of the human brain, what a fragile machine it really is, and that鈥檚 just the start.
It鈥檚 hard, because I want everyone to read this book, though I know the majority of people won鈥檛 get past the first fifty pages. It鈥檚 not just the hard SF elements, not the dense but oddly beautiful prose. This book just requires a lot. It鈥檚 packed tight with theory, and I don鈥檛 know what it would be like going in without at least a conversant background in biology, psychology, neurology, a bit of physics. It鈥檚 just that, when the boom swings around about three-quarters of the way in and smacks you on the forehead, you really should be leaning forward eagerly into it. And I don鈥檛 think that鈥檒l work if you鈥檙e struggling to keep up with the ologies. The science isn鈥檛 background here, it鈥檚 not ambiance, and the unprepared reader would probably be very puzzled by an obscure and strangely technical alien encounter book.
Because you鈥檝e got to do the work to get the payoff. It鈥檚 one of those arguments which is reduced out of all reasonableness by reduction at all 鈥� that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 not made often. Watts called this book a 鈥渢hought experiment.鈥� It鈥檚 about intelligence existing in the absence of sentience, of that conscious I first person narrator. About the brilliance of our brainstems; they are faster than us, smarter than us, perfectly capable of surviving just fine without upper management 鈥� that鈥檚 what the brainstem is for, after all, surviving. Blindsight starts there, and then bypasses the perennial bottleneck of what consciousness is, and goes straight on to what it鈥檚 for. Evolutionarily. Biologically. I think its conclusions are wrong. Well, I hope its conclusions are wrong. But it鈥檚 brilliant none the less.
"You invest so much in it, don't you? It's what elevates you above the beasts of the field, it's what makes you special. Homo sapiens, you call yourself.
Wise Man. Do you even know what it is, this consciousness you cite in your own exaltation? Do you even know what it's for?
Maybe you think it gives you free will. Maybe you've forgotten that sleepwalkers converse, drive vehicles, commit crimes and clean up afterwards, unconscious
the whole time. Maybe nobody's told you that even waking souls are only slaves in denial.
Make a conscious choice. Decide to move your index finger. Too late! The electricity's already halfway down your arm. Your body began to act a full half-second
before your conscious self 'chose' to, for the self chose nothing; something else set your body in motion, sent an executive summary鈥攁lmost an afterthought鈥�
to the homunculus behind your eyes. That little man, that arrogant subroutine that thinks of itself as the person, mistakes correlation for causality:
it reads the summary and it sees the hand move, and it thinks that one drove the other.
But it's not in charge. You're not in charge. If free will even exists, it doesn't share living space with the likes of you.
Insight, then. Wisdom. The quest for knowledge, the derivation of theorems, science and technology and all those exclusively human pursuits that must surely
rest on a conscious foundation. Maybe that's what sentience would be for鈥� if scientific breakthroughs didn't spring fully-formed from the subconscious
mind, manifest themselves in dreams, as full-blown insights after a deep night's sleep. It's the most basic rule of the stymied researcher: stop thinking
about the problem. Do something else. It will come to you if you just stop being conscious of it."
A fascinating, difficult book. I was right there all the way, but then again I took a lot less convincing than many readers probably will. That, and I was highly entertained by the quick and dirty tour of some of the stranger stops in the DSM-IV (oh right, there鈥檚 Cotard鈥檚 Syndrome. Love that one). Not for everyone by its very nature, and also by necessity populated with strange, uncuddly people and stranger situations, so that a casual, surface read of a typical hard SF story may or may not be enjoyable. I don鈥檛 know, and the inaccessibility is not a flaw, it鈥檚 a necessity. I do know that I admire the single-mindedness required to write so narrowly, so smartly, and that it's definitely worth the work, if you're positioned for it.
So. The actual review. Summarizing this book is quite difficult without being far too parsimonious or far too verbose. It鈥檚 SF, and there ain鈥檛 much squishy here. It鈥檚 told by Siri Keeton, informational synthesist, professional observer, member of a tiny human expedition sent out to meet an unknown alien presence at the outskirts of the solar system. Mostly human 鈥� it鈥檚 hard to classify people living on the 鈥渂leeding edge鈥� of the future, with edited brains and altered bodies. They meet the Scramblers, an alien race more frighteningly alien than anything I鈥檝e ever seen in any other science fiction. There they are reminded of the eminent hackability of the human brain, what a fragile machine it really is, and that鈥檚 just the start.
It鈥檚 hard, because I want everyone to read this book, though I know the majority of people won鈥檛 get past the first fifty pages. It鈥檚 not just the hard SF elements, not the dense but oddly beautiful prose. This book just requires a lot. It鈥檚 packed tight with theory, and I don鈥檛 know what it would be like going in without at least a conversant background in biology, psychology, neurology, a bit of physics. It鈥檚 just that, when the boom swings around about three-quarters of the way in and smacks you on the forehead, you really should be leaning forward eagerly into it. And I don鈥檛 think that鈥檒l work if you鈥檙e struggling to keep up with the ologies. The science isn鈥檛 background here, it鈥檚 not ambiance, and the unprepared reader would probably be very puzzled by an obscure and strangely technical alien encounter book.
Because you鈥檝e got to do the work to get the payoff. It鈥檚 one of those arguments which is reduced out of all reasonableness by reduction at all 鈥� that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 not made often. Watts called this book a 鈥渢hought experiment.鈥� It鈥檚 about intelligence existing in the absence of sentience, of that conscious I first person narrator. About the brilliance of our brainstems; they are faster than us, smarter than us, perfectly capable of surviving just fine without upper management 鈥� that鈥檚 what the brainstem is for, after all, surviving. Blindsight starts there, and then bypasses the perennial bottleneck of what consciousness is, and goes straight on to what it鈥檚 for. Evolutionarily. Biologically. I think its conclusions are wrong. Well, I hope its conclusions are wrong. But it鈥檚 brilliant none the less.
"You invest so much in it, don't you? It's what elevates you above the beasts of the field, it's what makes you special. Homo sapiens, you call yourself.
Wise Man. Do you even know what it is, this consciousness you cite in your own exaltation? Do you even know what it's for?
Maybe you think it gives you free will. Maybe you've forgotten that sleepwalkers converse, drive vehicles, commit crimes and clean up afterwards, unconscious
the whole time. Maybe nobody's told you that even waking souls are only slaves in denial.
Make a conscious choice. Decide to move your index finger. Too late! The electricity's already halfway down your arm. Your body began to act a full half-second
before your conscious self 'chose' to, for the self chose nothing; something else set your body in motion, sent an executive summary鈥攁lmost an afterthought鈥�
to the homunculus behind your eyes. That little man, that arrogant subroutine that thinks of itself as the person, mistakes correlation for causality:
it reads the summary and it sees the hand move, and it thinks that one drove the other.
But it's not in charge. You're not in charge. If free will even exists, it doesn't share living space with the likes of you.
Insight, then. Wisdom. The quest for knowledge, the derivation of theorems, science and technology and all those exclusively human pursuits that must surely
rest on a conscious foundation. Maybe that's what sentience would be for鈥� if scientific breakthroughs didn't spring fully-formed from the subconscious
mind, manifest themselves in dreams, as full-blown insights after a deep night's sleep. It's the most basic rule of the stymied researcher: stop thinking
about the problem. Do something else. It will come to you if you just stop being conscious of it."
A fascinating, difficult book. I was right there all the way, but then again I took a lot less convincing than many readers probably will. That, and I was highly entertained by the quick and dirty tour of some of the stranger stops in the DSM-IV (oh right, there鈥檚 Cotard鈥檚 Syndrome. Love that one). Not for everyone by its very nature, and also by necessity populated with strange, uncuddly people and stranger situations, so that a casual, surface read of a typical hard SF story may or may not be enjoyable. I don鈥檛 know, and the inaccessibility is not a flaw, it鈥檚 a necessity. I do know that I admire the single-mindedness required to write so narrowly, so smartly, and that it's definitely worth the work, if you're positioned for it.
January 23, 2025
wow
Recenzja:
Recenzja:
January 1, 2019
This is not an easy read. The book is a hard science fiction with a lot of ideas, maybe too much for some people that has no special interest in one or two of the science that mentioned in this book. It sure gave me some things to check in internet, like blindsight (it is a real life phenomena), and other science stuff appeared in this book. This book is also discuss about behavioral and consciousness, oh just read other reviews for details, I am not good discussing heavy subjects.
My only concern is the ending, not satisfying enough for me. I felt like read a novel that will have a direct sequel/continuation. I was ready to give this book a five star, then when the (supposedly) climax part hit me, I changed my mind and rated this book a four star.
My only concern is the ending, not satisfying enough for me. I felt like read a novel that will have a direct sequel/continuation. I was ready to give this book a five star, then when the (supposedly) climax part hit me, I changed my mind and rated this book a four star.
July 31, 2007
I'm still having a hard time figuring out what I think about this book. I don't believe that it is well written, but I also don't believe that it is a bad book. Let's start with the first one. I've had a brief note up here for a while about this book that pretty much defines why I don't think it's well written. Take a look at this quote:
"There have always been those tasked with the rotation of informational topologies, but throughout most of history they had little to do with increasing its clarity."
Italics his. Oh, the irony of the italics. His problem is that he really relies on jargon an awful lot to make his descriptions, and for people who don't use that same terminology, it can be like slogging through mud to understand what he's saying. In the first third of the book, I thought this was going to be the worst of the nominees, just because I couldn't understand half of what he was saying. In the rest of the book, once he's done with setup and back story, it gets better. But it never fully goes away, and the fact that the setup and back story are so unreadable - and yet so important - is a pretty huge problem.
Now on to my second point. I believe this is actually a good book. The characters are distinct and interesting, the world he created is believable, even if the "vampire" concept is a little out there. But most importantly, he did science fiction with aliens and he did it right. This is something that he even cites in the acknowledgments, but when you're doing aliens, you need to make them unrecognizable. This is a huge challenge, but you have to conceive of a species that evolved in a completely different environment, coming up a completely different path and becoming something completely unlike humanity. Or anything else on Earth for that matter. Talking cats don't count.
His aliens are the most plausibly non-human I have ever seen. I'm giving this book it's score largely based on that. I want to give it four stars just because of that, but the poor writing and the fact that it feels a little unfinished at the end make it hard to do that. It has a great second act, one that doesn't quite live up to its potential for me, but a worthy hugo nominee all the same.
Even though I'm giving this book a lower score than the others, this may be the winner in my opinion. The aliens may not make it rise above other books in terms of the writing, but in a science fiction contest, I believe they do.
NOTE: After reading Glasshouse, my personal award goes to that novel and not this one. Stross managed to do everything right in that one.
"There have always been those tasked with the rotation of informational topologies, but throughout most of history they had little to do with increasing its clarity."
Italics his. Oh, the irony of the italics. His problem is that he really relies on jargon an awful lot to make his descriptions, and for people who don't use that same terminology, it can be like slogging through mud to understand what he's saying. In the first third of the book, I thought this was going to be the worst of the nominees, just because I couldn't understand half of what he was saying. In the rest of the book, once he's done with setup and back story, it gets better. But it never fully goes away, and the fact that the setup and back story are so unreadable - and yet so important - is a pretty huge problem.
Now on to my second point. I believe this is actually a good book. The characters are distinct and interesting, the world he created is believable, even if the "vampire" concept is a little out there. But most importantly, he did science fiction with aliens and he did it right. This is something that he even cites in the acknowledgments, but when you're doing aliens, you need to make them unrecognizable. This is a huge challenge, but you have to conceive of a species that evolved in a completely different environment, coming up a completely different path and becoming something completely unlike humanity. Or anything else on Earth for that matter. Talking cats don't count.
His aliens are the most plausibly non-human I have ever seen. I'm giving this book it's score largely based on that. I want to give it four stars just because of that, but the poor writing and the fact that it feels a little unfinished at the end make it hard to do that. It has a great second act, one that doesn't quite live up to its potential for me, but a worthy hugo nominee all the same.
Even though I'm giving this book a lower score than the others, this may be the winner in my opinion. The aliens may not make it rise above other books in terms of the writing, but in a science fiction contest, I believe they do.
NOTE: After reading Glasshouse, my personal award goes to that novel and not this one. Stross managed to do everything right in that one.
September 15, 2022
Something about Peter Watts writing style doesn't interface well with my gray matter. The story and ideas were interesting enough. Consciousness and sentience from the perspective of the neurodiverse-tronauts and first contact aliens pounded home the only really interesting question - Is sentience an asset or liability? But reading this book felt like trying to run underwater. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for this book. I'll give it a 3.5 rounded up.
October 4, 2008
Crank up some Xenakis and Penderecki and abandon hope all ye who enter here. A book as monolithic and labyrinthine as the alien artifact at the heart of it. A grim yet psychedelic book which probably earns Watts place as the new James W. Campbell. A dystopia and a first contact story bent into odd shapes like a bristling metal sculpture. Disturbingly, as hallucinatory as most sections of this book are, Watts seemed to have scientific rational for most of it. A stunning look at consciousness, identity, reality, extraterrestrial life, technology, evolution, psychology, this is very difficult but mind altering experience if you let it. A future as weird and baroque as those pictured by Greg Egan and Charles Stross, scientifically plausible vampires (a branch of lost evolution), people turning to stone, a person with multiple personalities call The Gang of Four, truly alien aliens, and bleak a view of the universe as Lovecraft or Alastair Reynolds. Wow! The notes and references are worth price of entry alone.
August 26, 2014
I鈥檝e had this book on my to-read list for several years now, and I feel like the me who added this book would have liked it more than the me who ended up reading it. One of the nice things about having 欧宝娱乐 to help me track my reading, what I鈥檝e read and what I want to read, is that sometimes I can remember why I鈥檝e put something on my list. In this case I can鈥檛, specifically, except maybe that I heard about Peter Watts or Blindsight somewhere, maybe io9, and it seemed like something I could read. Plus, you know, he鈥檚 Canadian and a science-fiction author, so that鈥檚 something to celebrate.
Three or four years ago was my personal zenith for posthuman SF. As I noted in my review of Postsingular, I鈥檝e become rather fatigued with posthuman SF that is fantasy masquerading as SF so hard that the technology verges upon magic. Greg Egan鈥檚 Incandescence and Diaspora contributed to this somewhat as well.
Blindsight, to be fair, is harder SF than the aforementioned novels. Watts restricts himself to the near-future (2088 or so?) and to the confines of our solar system. Some of the technology, such as the telematter-driven Theseus or the cyborgs Szpindel and Cunningham or the vampire (I鈥檒l spend some time on him later) seem more out there and fantastical. Nevertheless, Watts seems intent on honestly interrogating how humans might investigate an alien object lurking at the edges of the solar system.
In many ways this book reminds me of an SF horror movie in the same vein as Alien or perhaps Cube. Watts introduces the scramblers, denizens of the alien object Rorschach that might be parts of a whole or individual entities鈥攊t鈥檚 hard to tell. I like, however, how he tries to take a fairly original approach to alien biology: no DNA, distributed neural networks, etc. The crew鈥檚 initial encounters with the scramblers inside Rorschach feel like a horror movie. Everything is so disjointed; it becomes difficult to follow what鈥檚 going on. It feels like a scene from one of those movies where the protagonists are walking down a dark corridor, and you just know something is going to jump out at them. Now picture the dark corridor as the vacuum-interior of a large alien object, and the something involves direct manipulation of the human visual cortex. Yeah.
Bottom line, without spoilers: the theme behind everything (seriously, everything) in Blindsight is one that any transhumanist would acknowledge (and probably celebrate) while the rest of us often deny or conveniently forget鈥攖he human brain is easily hacked. We aren鈥檛 all that good at hacking it to do specific things at the moment鈥攁t least not with any degree of finesse; technically, programming our brains to read and write is a monumental feat of hacking, albeit one that is done much more slowly. But it seems like we are developing technology, and a better understanding of the brain, that would let us manipulate the brain more easily. With this ability would come more questions and issues surrounding what makes us conscious, and whether our consciousness makes us who we are.
Everything in this book is another facet of how Watts explores these issues. Each of the four protagonists manifests consciousness and brain-hacking differently. Siri, the narrator, underwent a as a child to cure his epilepsy; he now considers himself a more than a functional individual, and we get treated to flashbacks of an awkward relationship as evidence. Contrastedly, Jukka Sarasti is a vampire. It turns out that vampires were a subspecies of humanity from hundreds of thousands of years ago. Never very populous because of their nature as predators, vampires probably would have become the dominant species, except for a weird brain glitch that causes seizures when they see intersecting right angles (鈥渃rosses鈥�). But for some reason, a vampire is necessary as the leader of this first contact mission, so scientists used some DNA to recreate one. Cool, huh? I kind of feel like that whole idea could be a plot of a novel by itself.
It would be easy to dismiss Blindsight as a collection of interlinked concepts that don鈥檛 quite work together鈥攁 precarious house of cards on an unstable foundation. Yet for all the work reading this turned out to be, it鈥檚 clear Watts is pursuing a single and comprehensible idea. He has no qualms about forcing the reader to consider how truly alien life outside our solar system could be. He makes us confront the terrifying idea that we could be the anomalies鈥攏ot in the sense that we are alone, but that other advanced forms of life might not be sentient or might be so different from us, sentient or not, that we could never hope to communicate with them.
Watts is far from the only one who advances such propositions, of course! The antagonist of Peter F. Hamilton鈥檚 Pandor鈥檚 Star is similarly so alien that it isn鈥檛 evil, just different. Yet Watts succeeds in confronting these ideas, in interrogating them, in a compact way that remains fast-paced and, at times, fiendishly difficult to follow. He throws so many curveballs and twists at the reader that keeping up requires careful attention and a willingness to have a little faith. Siri is a somewhat unreliable narrator, as he should be, and even by the end it remains difficult (at least for me) to understand clearly what happened aboard Theseus. Siri is one step up from found-footage when it comes to being informative on such things. I鈥檓 not going to pretend I fully grok what happened, and I鈥檓 not all that interested in going back and re-reading to clarify things. Fortunately, one of the perks of being human is that we can form snap judgements based on the bigger picture.
The big picture, when it comes to this book at least, is that it is incredibly ambitious, quite clever, but also somewhat boring and unpalatable. I鈥檓 probably going to lose my literary snob street cred for saying this, but I鈥檓 a big fan of the straightforward narrative, especially in hard SF where the technobabble can make it difficult enough to follow the plot. Blindsight asks a lot of its readers. This is not per se bad. But the return on investment wasn鈥檛 there for me. I鈥檓 intrigued by the ideas that Watts puts forward, and for that reason I still liked the book despite finding it difficult to get through. Alas, if you don鈥檛 already share my fascination with philosophy of mind, then you may find it difficult to perceive the positives of Blindsight.
Three or four years ago was my personal zenith for posthuman SF. As I noted in my review of Postsingular, I鈥檝e become rather fatigued with posthuman SF that is fantasy masquerading as SF so hard that the technology verges upon magic. Greg Egan鈥檚 Incandescence and Diaspora contributed to this somewhat as well.
Blindsight, to be fair, is harder SF than the aforementioned novels. Watts restricts himself to the near-future (2088 or so?) and to the confines of our solar system. Some of the technology, such as the telematter-driven Theseus or the cyborgs Szpindel and Cunningham or the vampire (I鈥檒l spend some time on him later) seem more out there and fantastical. Nevertheless, Watts seems intent on honestly interrogating how humans might investigate an alien object lurking at the edges of the solar system.
In many ways this book reminds me of an SF horror movie in the same vein as Alien or perhaps Cube. Watts introduces the scramblers, denizens of the alien object Rorschach that might be parts of a whole or individual entities鈥攊t鈥檚 hard to tell. I like, however, how he tries to take a fairly original approach to alien biology: no DNA, distributed neural networks, etc. The crew鈥檚 initial encounters with the scramblers inside Rorschach feel like a horror movie. Everything is so disjointed; it becomes difficult to follow what鈥檚 going on. It feels like a scene from one of those movies where the protagonists are walking down a dark corridor, and you just know something is going to jump out at them. Now picture the dark corridor as the vacuum-interior of a large alien object, and the something involves direct manipulation of the human visual cortex. Yeah.
Bottom line, without spoilers: the theme behind everything (seriously, everything) in Blindsight is one that any transhumanist would acknowledge (and probably celebrate) while the rest of us often deny or conveniently forget鈥攖he human brain is easily hacked. We aren鈥檛 all that good at hacking it to do specific things at the moment鈥攁t least not with any degree of finesse; technically, programming our brains to read and write is a monumental feat of hacking, albeit one that is done much more slowly. But it seems like we are developing technology, and a better understanding of the brain, that would let us manipulate the brain more easily. With this ability would come more questions and issues surrounding what makes us conscious, and whether our consciousness makes us who we are.
Everything in this book is another facet of how Watts explores these issues. Each of the four protagonists manifests consciousness and brain-hacking differently. Siri, the narrator, underwent a as a child to cure his epilepsy; he now considers himself a more than a functional individual, and we get treated to flashbacks of an awkward relationship as evidence. Contrastedly, Jukka Sarasti is a vampire. It turns out that vampires were a subspecies of humanity from hundreds of thousands of years ago. Never very populous because of their nature as predators, vampires probably would have become the dominant species, except for a weird brain glitch that causes seizures when they see intersecting right angles (鈥渃rosses鈥�). But for some reason, a vampire is necessary as the leader of this first contact mission, so scientists used some DNA to recreate one. Cool, huh? I kind of feel like that whole idea could be a plot of a novel by itself.
It would be easy to dismiss Blindsight as a collection of interlinked concepts that don鈥檛 quite work together鈥攁 precarious house of cards on an unstable foundation. Yet for all the work reading this turned out to be, it鈥檚 clear Watts is pursuing a single and comprehensible idea. He has no qualms about forcing the reader to consider how truly alien life outside our solar system could be. He makes us confront the terrifying idea that we could be the anomalies鈥攏ot in the sense that we are alone, but that other advanced forms of life might not be sentient or might be so different from us, sentient or not, that we could never hope to communicate with them.
Watts is far from the only one who advances such propositions, of course! The antagonist of Peter F. Hamilton鈥檚 Pandor鈥檚 Star is similarly so alien that it isn鈥檛 evil, just different. Yet Watts succeeds in confronting these ideas, in interrogating them, in a compact way that remains fast-paced and, at times, fiendishly difficult to follow. He throws so many curveballs and twists at the reader that keeping up requires careful attention and a willingness to have a little faith. Siri is a somewhat unreliable narrator, as he should be, and even by the end it remains difficult (at least for me) to understand clearly what happened aboard Theseus. Siri is one step up from found-footage when it comes to being informative on such things. I鈥檓 not going to pretend I fully grok what happened, and I鈥檓 not all that interested in going back and re-reading to clarify things. Fortunately, one of the perks of being human is that we can form snap judgements based on the bigger picture.
The big picture, when it comes to this book at least, is that it is incredibly ambitious, quite clever, but also somewhat boring and unpalatable. I鈥檓 probably going to lose my literary snob street cred for saying this, but I鈥檓 a big fan of the straightforward narrative, especially in hard SF where the technobabble can make it difficult enough to follow the plot. Blindsight asks a lot of its readers. This is not per se bad. But the return on investment wasn鈥檛 there for me. I鈥檓 intrigued by the ideas that Watts puts forward, and for that reason I still liked the book despite finding it difficult to get through. Alas, if you don鈥檛 already share my fascination with philosophy of mind, then you may find it difficult to perceive the positives of Blindsight.
December 22, 2021
I half-expected nothing to happen.
But the dome split instantly before me, a crack then a crescent then a wide-eyed lidless stare as the shielding slid smoothly back into the hull. My fingers clenched reflexively into a fistful of webbing. The sudden void stretched empty and unforgiving in all directions, and there was nothing to cling to but a metal disk barely four meters across.
Stars, everywhere. So many stars that I could not for the life me understand how the sky could contain them all yet be so black. Stars,
补苍诲鈥�
鈥攏othing else.
Space, the final frontier, where no-one can hear you scream, and so on and so forth.
Blindsight is what you might call a cosmic horror hard science fiction novel, or something such (some of the other reviews here have already mentioned the Lovecraftian themes). It is also a novel about first contact鈥� and the exploration of an artifact鈥�.
鈥owever, it probably isn鈥檛 what you expect at all.
鈥淧redators run for their dinner. Prey run for their lives.鈥濃€擮ld Ecologist鈥檚 Proverb
Blindsight created a bit of a stir when it came out, and was nominated for a number of awards (notably the Hugo award for best novel). And now, I can finally see why.
There are many reviews here, most of them pretty much mirroring my own sentiments. As such, I don鈥檛 have much more than two cents to chuck into the mix.
鈥淣ot blind chance. Blind sight.鈥�
At its heart this is a novel that wants you to rethink the way you perceive yourself and the world around you. It may be wrapped up in a story about space exploration on the darkest edges of the solar system, but it touches on themes like the nature of reality and how we perceive it (as filtered through the reality inside our minds), the nature of the sub conscious, and 鈥淚ntelligence鈥� vs 鈥淪entience鈥�. The latter is prominent to the story being told, and the author raises some hairy questions. Blindsight is a challenging read, not just because of the hard science or the fact that the author doesn鈥檛 hold our hand or ease us into the future he envisions, but because he wants to show us just how insignificant and meaningless existence possibly is, when viewed from certain angles. Is self-awareness the anomaly or the evolutionary dead end in a Universe that is basically inhospitable? Are we the losers after all?
Now, before you throw your hands in the air and say 鈥渨ell, that鈥檚 certainly not for me鈥�, I should tell you that this also a novel that lets you interpret, or take from it, what you can. And it鈥檚 not a boring philosophical handbook or anything such, it is still a Science Fiction novel with creepy aliens and dangerous environments and all the other trimmings you have come to expect. See, it鈥檚 clever like that.
We fell. Ridged spires and gnarled limbs sectioned the sky wherever I looked, cut the distant starscape and the imminent superJovian into a jagged mosaic veined in black. Three kilometers away or thirty, the tip of some swollen extremity burst in a silent explosion of charged particles, a distant fog of ruptured, freezing atmosphere. Even as it faded I could make out wisps and streamers swirling into complex spirals: Rorschach鈥榮 magnetic field, sculpting the artefact鈥檚 very breath into radioactive sleet.
I鈥檇 never seen it with naked eyes before. I felt like an insect on a starry midwinter鈥檚 night, falling through the aftermath of a forest fire.
If you have read the novel check out the faux trailer on youtube for a 鈥淏lindsight SciFi Short Film鈥�, beware though it does contain spoilers.
The abstract nature(s) of the great reveal(s) and what the first-person narrator reveals about himself (at crucial moments of the novel), intentionally muddies the water. It is already a challenging book to read, but it may be an even bigger challenge walking away from it. The ending is designed in such a fashion that you are not quite sure whether you, well鈥�.
And to prove this point: I wasn鈥檛 going to give this novel 5 stars, I was thinking maybe 3.5 rounded up or down, depending. But it has been niggling at my brain ever since I finished it. Pieces clicking into place long after the last page was read. And there you have it.
March 11, 2021
When I occasionally for a longer period of time drift closer to the shores of mainstream literature, books like Blindsight remind me in the form of the hard kick in the ass why I like sci-fi.
The many ideas that Watts stuffed into it are at least very interesting, if not mindblowing. Lets not forget that the book was written some 15 years ago, but to me it didn't feel outdated at all, never mind that since then many authors and screenwriters made use of many concepts. But trust me, nobody else since then put a damn vampire on the spaceship together with MPD linguist, cybernetic biologist and someone who has half of his brain out and some microchips instead in his head and is an actual narrator of the whole story. Now, reliable or not is a completely different song.
By our everyday standards these folks need to get some help instead of going to deep space. But it turns out only crazy can be genius. And vampires.
You read the blurb - some alien objects fall on Earth, blah blah, signals are found blah blah. Our crew goes to check a signal out of space - yeah, we know that trope - and happen to find some aliens. And I'm not spoiling. Because it's not about what happens actually, nothing that much happens at all in this book, mind me. It's about HOW it happens. It's about how the crew is discussing and treating the First Contact, and in meantime - themselves and each other. It's about "me, me, me" again - a human condition, intelligence and sentience.
Nothing is optimistic in this books, everything is dark and darker. And while I didn't necessarily agree with everything the author said in it, I loved this gloomy shit. I just got a bit confused by the sudden but not unexpected ending. I wanted it to last. Also didn't like Siri's relationship line and while I know why author used it, I was feeling force fed.
Feelz - just the feelz - as for movies Event Horizon comes to my mind and of course, Alien, for the obvious reasons, also Blade Runner. As for the books - some parts of and some . Also . So only the good things, babes.
When I finished the book I was immediately feeling like rereading it. I don't have a heart to give it less that 5 stars, even if it wasn't perfect.
And for the dessert have this awesome fan made short film that I watched n-times since finding it. If you won't feel like reading the book straight away after watching it, then who are you and what are you doing on my page???
The many ideas that Watts stuffed into it are at least very interesting, if not mindblowing. Lets not forget that the book was written some 15 years ago, but to me it didn't feel outdated at all, never mind that since then many authors and screenwriters made use of many concepts. But trust me, nobody else since then put a damn vampire on the spaceship together with MPD linguist, cybernetic biologist and someone who has half of his brain out and some microchips instead in his head and is an actual narrator of the whole story. Now, reliable or not is a completely different song.
By our everyday standards these folks need to get some help instead of going to deep space. But it turns out only crazy can be genius. And vampires.
You read the blurb - some alien objects fall on Earth, blah blah, signals are found blah blah. Our crew goes to check a signal out of space - yeah, we know that trope - and happen to find some aliens. And I'm not spoiling. Because it's not about what happens actually, nothing that much happens at all in this book, mind me. It's about HOW it happens. It's about how the crew is discussing and treating the First Contact, and in meantime - themselves and each other. It's about "me, me, me" again - a human condition, intelligence and sentience.
Nothing is optimistic in this books, everything is dark and darker. And while I didn't necessarily agree with everything the author said in it, I loved this gloomy shit. I just got a bit confused by the sudden but not unexpected ending. I wanted it to last. Also didn't like Siri's relationship line and while I know why author used it, I was feeling force fed.
Feelz - just the feelz - as for movies Event Horizon comes to my mind and of course, Alien, for the obvious reasons, also Blade Runner. As for the books - some parts of and some . Also . So only the good things, babes.
When I finished the book I was immediately feeling like rereading it. I don't have a heart to give it less that 5 stars, even if it wasn't perfect.
And for the dessert have this awesome fan made short film that I watched n-times since finding it. If you won't feel like reading the book straight away after watching it, then who are you and what are you doing on my page???
July 14, 2016
Moments that deserved four stars scattered among moments that deserved book throwing. Two stars it is.
Two jokes: 1) if free will doesn't exist, does it mean it's not my fault I read this and not Watts's that he wrote it?
2) For a novel that supposedly argues that sentience and self-awareness is not worth the cost, the book does a lot of navel-gazing and self-referentiality. (It even has the narrator berate himself for infodumping in the middle of an infodump.)
I like science fiction and I can even have fun with hard science fiction (as pretentious as that name sounds), but in case of Blindsight there were several obstacles to me deriving enjoyment from the novel. Firstly, it drew precisely on the sort of "science" (cognitive studies and evo psych) that I'm most skeptical about (and the Dawkins fanboy moments... just really didn't work for me). Secondly, instead of using that science as an integral part of the narrative, it combined practical application of theory in thought experiment with massive infodumps, many of which made little sense because the people of the future probably wouldn't need the explanation (and yet some really advanced ideas are namedropped without explanation while some pretty self-explanatory concepts are explained. Go figure). Thirdly, the characters are cliched vehicles for thoughts. I think Sarasti has his moments, as do Amanda and Susan, but the cheap mess of the protagonist's family life... The two fridged women who only exist to attempt to make him feel things and be self-aware. The super special girlfriend and the mother whose abuse is that she wants him to love her. Was this really the best the author could come up with? Fourthly, the worldbuilding feels disjointed and tertiary to the science and philosophy. Is there a reason we should believe humans would be so willing to give up having sex in person but cigarette smoking and coffee drinking would still look pretty much the same (and in space at that)? And for what I suppose is meant to be a post-gender (and default post-racial, although Jewish people seem to exist) future, rape seems to be a common metaphor. (Probably because of evo psych and its perverse fascination with rape.) Animals also seem to have pretty much disappeared. And that ending... I've seen too many iterations of "vampires wage war against humanity" to consider that so completely natural in any way, for a super-intelligent species, without an additional incentive, just because of predator-prey relationship. That can be changed even in less intelligent species and predation is not only genes/biology/instinct, it's a learned behaviour too. (I'm sure a psychologist - or perhaps an animal psychologist - could explain the reason why that makes little sense more convincingly.)
But then, this to me reads like grimdark science fiction. Alas, I'm not a big fan of grimdark for the sake of grimdark and I don't think the more predatory the behavior the more natural it is.
Maybe the fault is mine. I read the description and I expected a book that might be hard science fiction, but that doesn't take itself too seriously. And this book did.
Two jokes: 1) if free will doesn't exist, does it mean it's not my fault I read this and not Watts's that he wrote it?
2) For a novel that supposedly argues that sentience and self-awareness is not worth the cost, the book does a lot of navel-gazing and self-referentiality. (It even has the narrator berate himself for infodumping in the middle of an infodump.)
I like science fiction and I can even have fun with hard science fiction (as pretentious as that name sounds), but in case of Blindsight there were several obstacles to me deriving enjoyment from the novel. Firstly, it drew precisely on the sort of "science" (cognitive studies and evo psych) that I'm most skeptical about (and the Dawkins fanboy moments... just really didn't work for me). Secondly, instead of using that science as an integral part of the narrative, it combined practical application of theory in thought experiment with massive infodumps, many of which made little sense because the people of the future probably wouldn't need the explanation (and yet some really advanced ideas are namedropped without explanation while some pretty self-explanatory concepts are explained. Go figure). Thirdly, the characters are cliched vehicles for thoughts. I think Sarasti has his moments, as do Amanda and Susan, but the cheap mess of the protagonist's family life... The two fridged women who only exist to attempt to make him feel things and be self-aware. The super special girlfriend and the mother whose abuse is that she wants him to love her. Was this really the best the author could come up with? Fourthly, the worldbuilding feels disjointed and tertiary to the science and philosophy. Is there a reason we should believe humans would be so willing to give up having sex in person but cigarette smoking and coffee drinking would still look pretty much the same (and in space at that)? And for what I suppose is meant to be a post-gender (and default post-racial, although Jewish people seem to exist) future, rape seems to be a common metaphor. (Probably because of evo psych and its perverse fascination with rape.) Animals also seem to have pretty much disappeared. And that ending... I've seen too many iterations of "vampires wage war against humanity" to consider that so completely natural in any way, for a super-intelligent species, without an additional incentive, just because of predator-prey relationship. That can be changed even in less intelligent species and predation is not only genes/biology/instinct, it's a learned behaviour too. (I'm sure a psychologist - or perhaps an animal psychologist - could explain the reason why that makes little sense more convincingly.)
But then, this to me reads like grimdark science fiction. Alas, I'm not a big fan of grimdark for the sake of grimdark and I don't think the more predatory the behavior the more natural it is.
Maybe the fault is mine. I read the description and I expected a book that might be hard science fiction, but that doesn't take itself too seriously. And this book did.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2014
This is not an easy-reading book. It is complex, uses realistic technical jargon, and some rather esoteric psychological concepts. I enjoyed this book because of the wide range of interesting concepts that Peter Watts introduces in the story. The aspect of blindsight--the ability to sense one's environment without conscious awareness--is central to the story. Sometimes the human characters are subject to blindsight, but more importantly, the aliens they investigate act completely in blindsight. The aliens have no conscious awareness--they lack a brain--but they act as if they do.
Each crew member has some freakish aspect to his/her personality. The captain is a "vampire". He has to control his urges to refrain from assaulting the fellow crew members on the spacecraft, of which he is the captain. He is the captain because he is incredibly intelligent. It is sort of strange to have a "vampire" in a pure science-fiction novel. The main character had half of his brain removed when he was a child. He is subject to schizophrenic episodes. The biologist on board is half organic, half machine. One of the women on board is the warrior, and is also a pacifist.
It is obvious that the author is a scientist. Who, but a scientist would write, "... respective trajectories were known parabolas, our relative positions infinitely predictable at any time t." But he does get a few technical details wrong. He refers to the "Kaddish" prayer as being in Hebrew. It is not--it is actually Aramaic. And when a signal is lowered in pitch to help understand it, he writes, "Dopplered down near absolute zero." However, this is not a Doppler process because there is no motion involved--the proper jargon is "basebanded".
But this is just the perfectionist in me, giving vent to a few minor issues. This is an excellent book for those who don't just want to read a sci-fi adventure story, but are hungry for some intellectual meat.
Each crew member has some freakish aspect to his/her personality. The captain is a "vampire". He has to control his urges to refrain from assaulting the fellow crew members on the spacecraft, of which he is the captain. He is the captain because he is incredibly intelligent. It is sort of strange to have a "vampire" in a pure science-fiction novel. The main character had half of his brain removed when he was a child. He is subject to schizophrenic episodes. The biologist on board is half organic, half machine. One of the women on board is the warrior, and is also a pacifist.
It is obvious that the author is a scientist. Who, but a scientist would write, "... respective trajectories were known parabolas, our relative positions infinitely predictable at any time t." But he does get a few technical details wrong. He refers to the "Kaddish" prayer as being in Hebrew. It is not--it is actually Aramaic. And when a signal is lowered in pitch to help understand it, he writes, "Dopplered down near absolute zero." However, this is not a Doppler process because there is no motion involved--the proper jargon is "basebanded".
But this is just the perfectionist in me, giving vent to a few minor issues. This is an excellent book for those who don't just want to read a sci-fi adventure story, but are hungry for some intellectual meat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2025
小褏芯卸械 薪邪 褌械, 褖芯 锌褨褋谢褟 锌褉芯褔懈褌邪薪薪褟 sci-fi 褉芯屑邪薪褍 "小谢褨锌芯斜邪褔械薪薪褟" 袩褨褌械褉邪 袙芯褌褌褋邪 褍 屑械薪械 胁 谐芯谢芯胁褨 锌芯褋械谢懈胁褋褟 袉薪褕懈泄 邪斜芯 效褍卸懈泄, 褟泻懈泄 谐芯谢芯褋芯屑 袉胁邪薪邪 小械屑械褋褞泻邪 写芯锌懈褌褍褦褌褜褋褟: "效芯屑褍 褨褋薪褍褦 褖芯褋褜, 邪 薪械 薪褨褖芯? 效芯屑褍 褨褋薪褍褦屑芯 屑懈, 邪 薪械 薪褨褏褌芯?"
袦芯褦 蟹薪邪泄芯屑褋褌胁芯 蟹 薪邪褍泻芯胁芯褞 褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈泻芯褞 褉芯蟹锌芯褔邪谢芯褋褟 褍 写芯褋褌邪褌薪褜芯 褉邪薪薪褜芯屑褍 胁褨褑褨, 锌芯蟹邪褟泻 褟 蟹邪薪邪写褌芯 褕胁懈写泻芯 锌械褉械褔懈褌邪胁 褍褋褨 泻邪蟹泻懈 薪邪褉芯写褨胁 褋胁褨褌褍, 锌褉懈谐芯写懈 袧褦蟹薪邪泄泻懈 褌邪 谐械褉芯褩胁 袞褞谢褟 袙械褉薪邪 薪邪 袦褨褋褟褑褨, 蟹邪谐褍斜谢械薪褨 褋胁褨褌懈 袣芯薪邪薪-袛芯泄谢褟, 写褨蟹薪邪胁褋褟 锌褉芯 褋锌褉邪胁卸薪褞 卸邪谐褍 写芯 卸懈褌褌褟 胁褨写 袛卸械泻邪 袥芯薪写芯薪邪 褌邪 写械泻褨谢褜泻邪 褉邪蟹褨胁 薪械锌芯谐邪薪芯 锌芯芯写褨褋械褩胁 蟹 泻邪锌褨褌邪薪芯屑 袘谢邪写芯屑. 袘褨斜谢褨芯褌械泻邪褉泻邪 斜褍谢邪 蟹屑褍褕械薪邪 胁懈写邪褌懈 屑械薪褨 写芯锌褍褋泻 胁 写芯褉芯褋谢褍 蟹邪谢褍 褋褨谢褜褋褜泻芯褩 斜褨斜谢褨芯褌械泻懈, 斜芯 褍 写懈褌褟褔褨泄 褌邪 锌褨写谢褨褌泻芯胁褨泄 褩褩 褔邪褋褌懈薪邪褏 褟 胁卸械 胁褨写胁械褉褌芯 薪褍写褜谐褍胁邪胁.
袧械 写褍屑邪褞, 褖芯 褟 屑褨谐 芯斜褉邪褌懈 蟹 胁械谢懈泻芯褩 泻褨谢褜泻芯褋褌褨 泻薪懈谐 褌芯写褨, 褍 锌械褉褕褨泄 锌芯谢芯胁懈薪褨 90-褏 褉芯泻褨胁 啸啸 褋褌., 邪谢械 褟 褌芯褔薪芯 褔懈褌邪胁 褟泻褨褋褜 褌胁芯褉懈 袣谢褨褎褎芯褉写邪 小褨屑邪泻邪, "小械谢懈褖械" 袣褨褉邪 袘褍谢懈褔芯胁邪, 邪 褌邪泻芯卸 芯锌芯胁褨写邪薪薪褟, 锌芯胁褨褋褌褨 邪斜芯 褍褉懈胁泻懈 褉芯屑邪薪褨胁, 泻芯褌褉褨 写褉褍泻褍胁邪谢懈褋褟 胁 褌邪泻芯屑褍 褋芯斜褨 褋芯胁褦褑褜泻芯屑褍 卸褍褉薪邪谢褨 "袉褋泻邪褌褦谢褜" 鈥� 蟹芯泻褉械屑邪 褨 写械褟泻褨 蟹 芯锌芯胁褨写邪薪褜 袪芯斜械褉褌邪 楔械泻谢褨. 肖邪薪褌邪褋褌懈褔薪械 芯锌芯胁褨写邪薪薪褟 "袩芯谢械 斜芯褞", 薪邪锌懈褋邪薪械 小褌褨胁械薪芯屑 袣褨薪谐芯屑, 褟 锌褉芯褔懈褌邪胁 褍 卸褍褉薪邪谢褨 "挟薪懈泄 褌褦褏薪褨泻", 邪 褍褉懈胁泻懈 蟹 褉芯屑邪薪褍 "袟芯褉褟薪褨 泻芯褉芯谢褨" 袝写屑芯薪邪 袚邪屑褨谢褜褌芯薪邪 褌芯褔薪芯 斜邪褔懈胁 褍 卸褍褉薪邪谢褨 "孝褦褏薪褨泻邪 屑芯谢芯写褜芯卸褨".听 笑械 斜褍谢懈 屑芯褩 谢褨褌械褉邪褌褍褉薪褨 "褑胁褟褏邪屑懈 锌褉懈斜懈褌褨 写芯 锌褨写谢芯谐懈 褨谐褉邪褕泻懈"...
袩械褉褕邪 薪邪褍泻芯胁芯-褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈褔薪邪 泻薪懈谐邪, 褟泻邪 蟹'褟胁懈谢邪褋褟 褍 屑械薪械 胁写芯屑邪, 薪邪谢械卸邪谢邪 锌械褉褍 袥芯褩褋 袦邪泻屑邪褋褌械褉 袘褍写卸芯谢写 褨, 蟹写邪褦褌褜褋褟, 薪邪蟹懈胁邪谢邪褋褟 "校谢邪屑泻懈 褔械褋褌褨", 邪 锌械褉褕芯褞 褋锌褉邪胁卸薪褜芯褞 褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈泻芯褞, 褟泻褍 褟 泻褍锌懈胁 褋芯斜褨 褋邪屑 (写械褋褜 褟泻褉邪蟹 薪邪 屑械卸褨 褌懈褋褟褔芯谢褨褌褜), 褋褌邪谢邪 "袛褞薪邪" 肖褉械薪泻邪 袚械褉斜械褉褌邪. 袟 褌懈褏 写邪谢械泻懈褏 褔邪褋褨胁 褟 胁胁邪卸邪褞 褋械斜械 锌芯褑褨薪芯胁褍胁邪褔械屑 薪邪褍泻芯胁芯褩 褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈泻懈, 锌芯锌褉懈 褌械, 褖芯 褉械邪谢褜薪褨褋褌褜 褌邪 写芯褋胁褨写 褔邪褋褌芯 褋胁褨写褔懈褌褜 锌褉芯 褨薪褕械 (褍 2024 褉芯褑褨, 薪邪锌褉懈泻谢邪写, 褟 锌褉芯褔懈褌邪胁 薪械 斜褨谢褜褕械 2-3 泻薪懈谐 褑褜芯谐芯 卸邪薪褉褍).
小邪屑械 褌芯屑褍, 屑邪斜褍褌褜, 胁懈褉褨褕懈胁 褉芯蟹锌芯褔邪褌懈 2025 褉褨泻 鈥� 褉褨泻 写邪谢械泻芯谐芯 屑邪泄斜褍褌薪褜芯谐芯 鈥� 蟹 泻薪懈谐懈, 薪邪 褟泻褍 褟 胁卸械 泻褨谢褜泻邪 褉芯泻褨胁 锌芯蟹懈褉邪胁 蟹 锌械胁薪懈屑 芯褋褌褉邪褏芯屑. "小谢褨锌芯斜邪褔械薪薪褟", 锌芯锌褉懈 泄芯谐芯 "褋械褉泄芯蟹薪褨褋褌褜" 褌邪 "薪邪褍泻芯胁褨褋褌褜", 胁懈褟胁懈谢芯褋褟 褋褌褉邪褕械薪薪芯 褑褨泻邪胁芯褞 泻薪懈谐芯褞, 屑芯卸械 薪邪胁褨褌褜 芯写薪懈屑 蟹 薪邪泄泻褉邪褖懈褏 薪邪褍泻芯胁芯-褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈褔薪懈褏 褉芯屑邪薪褨胁, 褟泻褨 屑械薪褨 写芯胁芯写懈谢芯褋褟 褔懈褌邪褌懈.
袙褋械 胁褨写斜褍胁邪褦褌褜褋褟 褍 薪械 薪邪写褌芯 写邪谢械泻芯屑褍 (褔械褉械蟹 锌'褟写褌械褋褟褌 蟹 泻芯锌褨泄泻邪屑懈 褉芯泻褨胁) 屑邪泄斜褍褌薪褜芯屑褍 胁褨写 写薪褟 褋褜芯谐芯写薪褨褕薪褜芯谐芯 鈥� 薪邪 锌谢邪薪械褌褨 袟械屑谢褨 褌邪 泻褉邪褞 小芯薪褟褔薪芯褩 褋懈褋褌械屑懈. 袪芯蟹锌芯褔懈薪邪褦褌褜褋褟 褑褟 褨褋褌芯褉褨褟 写褍卸械 褌褉懈胁芯卸薪芯 褌邪 蟹邪谐邪写泻芯胁芯: 芯写薪芯谐芯 写薪褟 写械褋褟褌泻懈 褌懈褋褟褔 蟹芯薪写褨胁 薪械胁褨写芯屑芯谐芯 锌芯褏芯写卸械薪薪褟 褉邪锌褌芯胁芯 蟹'褟胁谢褟褞褌褜褋褟 褍 薪械斜褨 薪邪写 胁褋褨褦褞 锌芯胁械褉褏薪械褞 锌谢邪薪械褌懈 褨 蟹谐芯褉褟褞褌褜 胁 邪褌屑芯褋褎械褉褨. 袧邪泄泻褉邪褖褨 谐芯谢芯胁懈 蟹-锌芯褋械褉械写 蟹械屑薪懈褏 胁褔械薪懈褏 褉芯蟹褍屑褨褞褌褜, 褖芯 锌芯邪薪械褌褍 褋褎芯褌芯谐褉邪褎褍胁邪谢懈, 芯斜屑褨褉褟谢懈 褌邪 锌褉芯褋泻邪薪褍胁邪谢懈 褍 胁褋械屑芯卸谢懈胁懈褏 褎芯褉屑邪褌邪褏 褌邪 褋锌械泻褌褉邪褏. 袗谢械 褏褌芯 褨 薪邪胁褨褖芯 褑械 蟹褉芯斜懈胁?听
袩褨褋谢褟 褌芯谐芯, 褟泻 薪邪 泻褉邪褞 小芯薪褟褔薪芯褩 褋懈褋褌械屑懈 蟹邪褋褨泻谢懈 邪薪芯屑邪谢褜薪褍 邪泻褌懈胁薪褨褋褌褜, 褌褍写懈 胁懈褉褍褕邪褦 褋褍锌械褉褋褍褔邪褋薪懈泄 泻芯褋屑褨褔薪懈泄 泻芯褉邪斜械谢褜 "孝械蟹械泄", 蟹邪锌邪泻芯胁邪薪懈泄 薪邪泄泻褉邪褖懈屑懈, 薪邪泄泻褉褍褌褨褕懈屑懈, 薪邪泄斜褨谢褜褕 锌械褉械写芯胁懈屑懈 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨褟屑懈 鈥� 蟹芯泻褉械屑邪 泻芯褉邪斜械谢褜 胁屑褨褦 胁懈谐芯褌芯胁懈褌懈 胁谢邪褋薪懈屑懈 褋懈谢邪屑懈 锌褉邪泻褌懈褔薪芯 褖芯 蟹邪胁谐芯写薪芯, 邪谢械 谢械褌褨褌懈 胁褨薪 屑芯卸械 谢懈褕械 褍蟹写芯胁卸 谢邪蟹械褉薪芯谐芯 锌褉芯屑械薪褟, 蟹邪胁写褟泻懈 褟泻芯屑褍 芯褌褉懈屑褍褦 邪薪褌懈屑邪褌械褉褨褦褞 写谢褟 写胁懈谐褍薪褨胁. 袧械 斜褍写褍 芯斜屑褨薪褞胁邪褌懈褋褟 褋邪屑 褨 斜褉械褏邪褌懈 褨薪褕懈屑, 薪邪褔械斜褌芯 褟 蟹褉芯蟹褍屑褨胁 胁褋褨 锌芯褟褋薪械薪薪褟 邪胁褌芯褉邪 褖芯写芯 锌褉懈薪褑懈锌褨胁 褉芯斜芯褌懈 褉褨蟹薪芯屑邪薪褨褌薪懈褏 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨泄, 胁褨褉褞 泄芯屑褍 薪邪 褋谢芯胁芯. 袗谢械 褨 写谢褟 芯褌褉懈屑邪薪薪褟 蟹邪写芯胁芯谢械薪薪褟 胁褨写 锌褉芯褔懈褌邪薪薪褟 泻薪懈谐懈 薪械 芯斜芯胁'褟蟹泻芯胁芯 褉芯蟹褍屑褨褌懈褋褟 薪邪 泻胁邪薪褌芯胁褨泄 褎褨蟹懈褑褨 褌邪 锌褉懈薪褑懈锌邪褏 褎褍薪泻褑褨芯薪褍胁邪薪薪褟 谐芯谢芯胁薪芯谐芯 褌邪 褋锌懈薪薪芯谐芯 屑芯蟹泻褨胁. 袧械 芯斜芯胁'褟蟹泻芯胁芯, 邪谢械 斜邪卸邪薪芯. 孝芯卸, 褟泻褖芯 胁懈 褌褉芯褏懈 褕邪褉懈褌械 褎褨蟹懈泻褍, 邪褋褌褉芯薪芯屑褨褞, 泻胁邪薪褌芯胁褍 屑械褏邪薪褨泻褍 褌邪 斜褨芯谢芯谐褨褞 胁懈褖懈褏 锌褉懈屑邪褌褨胁 褌邪 写褍卸械 写懈胁薪懈褏 锌褉懈斜褍谢褜褑褨胁 鈥� 褟 胁邪屑 蟹邪蟹写褉褞.
袣芯屑邪薪写邪 "孝械蟹械褟" 褋泻谢邪写邪褦褌褜褋褟 蟹 褔芯褌懈褉褜芯褏 胁懈褋芯泻芯泻谢邪褋薪懈褏 褋锌械褑褨邪谢褨褋褌褨胁 褨 褌褉芯褏懈 褋芯褑褨芯锌邪褌褨胁 褌邪 胁懈薪褟褌泻芯胁芯谐芯 泻芯屑邪薪写懈褉邪 械泻褨锌邪卸褍. 袙褋褨 胁芯薪懈 斜褨谢褜褕械, 薪褨卸 锌褉芯褋褌芯 谢褞写懈: 谢褨薪谐胁褨褋褌懈泻邪 小褞蟹邪薪 袛卸械泄屑褋 褋泻谢邪写邪褦褌褜褋褟 蟹 屑薪芯卸懈薪懈 芯褋芯斜懈褋褌芯褋褌械泄 鈥� 袘邪薪写懈, 泻芯褌褉褨 卸懈胁褍褌褜 胁 芯写薪芯屑褍 屑芯蟹泻褍, 屑芯卸褍褌褜 褋锌褨谢泻褍胁邪褌懈褋褟 屑褨卸 褋芯斜芯褞 褌邪 屑褨薪褟褌懈褋褟 屑褨褋褑褟屑懈, 斜褨芯谢芯谐 袉褋邪邪泻 楔锌褨薪写械谢褜 屑芯卸械 锌褨写泻谢褞褔邪褌懈褋褟 褋胁褨写芯屑褨褋褌褞 写芯 褉褨蟹薪芯屑邪薪褨褌薪懈褏 屑械褏邪薪褨蟹屑褨胁, 胁褨泄褋褜泻芯胁邪 袗屑邪薪写邪 袘械泄褌褋 蟹写邪褌薪邪 写懈褋褌邪薪褑褨泄薪芯 泻械褉褍胁邪褌懈 斜芯泄芯胁懈屑懈 褉芯斜芯褌邪屑懈-锌褨褏芯褌懈薪褑褟屑懈, 薪械薪邪写褨泄薪懈泄 芯锌芯胁褨写邪褔, 蟹邪锌邪泻芯胁邪薪懈泄 褨屑锌谢邪薪褌邪褌邪屑懈 褋锌芯褋褌械褉褨谐邪褔 褌邪 "泻芯屑褨褋邪褉" 小褨褉褨 袣褨褌芯薪听 芯褌褉懈屑褍褦 褉芯谢褜 褏褉芯薪褨褋褌邪 屑褨褋褨褩 褨 邪褉斜褨褌褉邪, 褟泻芯屑褍 胁懈谢褍褔懈谢懈 芯写薪褍 锌褨胁泻褍谢褞 屑芯蟹泻褍, 褖芯斜懈 锌芯蟹斜邪胁懈褌懈 械锌褨谢械锌褋褨褩, 邪谢械 褌邪泻懈屑 褔懈薪芯屑 锌芯蟹斜邪胁懈谢懈 泄芯谐芯 褌邪泻芯卸 械屑锌邪褌褨褩, 锌芯褔褍褌褌褨胁 褌邪 械屑芯褑褨泄 鈥� 胁褨薪 锌芯胁懈薪械薪 写芯锌芯屑邪谐邪褌懈 泻芯屑褍薪褨泻褍胁邪褌懈 褉械褕褌褨 褔谢械薪褨胁 泻芯屑邪薪写懈, 褟泻褖芯 褍 薪懈褏 蟹 褑懈屑 胁懈薪懈泻薪褍褌褜 锌褉芯斜谢械屑懈. 袣芯卸械薪 蟹 褑懈褏 锌械褉褋芯薪邪卸褨胁 褌邪泻芯卸 屑邪褦 写褍斜谢械褉邪 (胁芯薪懈 蟹薪邪褏芯写褟褌褜褋褟 褍 "薪械屑械褉褌胁芯屑褍" 褋褌邪薪褨 邪薪邪斜褨芯蟹褍, 写芯泻懈 薪械 蟹'褟胁懈褌褜褋褟 锌芯褌褉械斜邪 褉芯蟹斜褍写懈褌懈). 袣芯屑邪薪写褍褦 褑懈屑 锌邪薪芯锌褌懈泻褍屑芯屑 胁邪屑锌褨褉 挟泻泻邪 小邪褉邪褋褌褨.
孝邪泻-褌邪泻, 胁邪屑锌褨褉. 袙懈屑械褉谢懈泄 胁懈写, 芯写薪邪 蟹 谐褨谢芯泻 锌褉械写泻褨胁 谢褞写懈薪懈, 褏懈卸邪泻 蟹 薪邪写蟹胁懈褔邪泄薪懈屑懈 褉芯蟹褍屑芯胁懈屑懈 褌邪 邪薪邪谢褨褌懈褔薪懈屑懈 蟹写褨斜薪芯褋褌褟屑懈. 校 褔谢械薪褨胁 泻芯屑邪薪写懈 褌邪泻懈泄 泻芯屑邪薪写懈褉 胁懈泻谢懈泻邪褦 褌胁邪褉懈薪薪懈泄 卸邪褏, 薪邪胁褨褌褜 褍 写械褖芯 锌芯写褨斜薪芯谐芯 写芯 Siri 褌邪 ChatGPT - 小褨褉褨 袣褨褌芯薪邪.
袧邪 芯泻芯谢懈褑褨 小芯薪褟褔薪芯褩 褋懈褋褌械屑懈 "孝械蟹械泄" 薪邪褌懈泻邪褦褌褜褋褟 薪邪 褖芯褋褜, 褖芯 薪邪蟹懈胁邪褦 褋械斜械 "袪芯褉褕邪褏芯屑". 笑械 褟胁懈褖械 屑芯卸薪邪 胁胁邪卸邪褌懈 泻芯褉邪斜谢械屑 锌褉懈斜褍谢褜褑褨胁, 胁褨写褌邪泻 写邪谢褨 屑邪褦 胁褨写斜褍褌懈褋褟 褨 锌械褉褕懈泄 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌, 褖芯 斜懈 褑械 薪械 芯蟹薪邪褔邪谢芯, 邪谢械 薪邪褌芯屑褨褋褌褜 锌芯褔懈薪邪褦褌褜褋褟 褋锌褉邪胁卸薪褦 斜芯卸械胁褨谢谢褟.
袩褨褌械褉 袙芯褌褌褋 蟹写褨泄屑邪褦 褌邪泻褍 胁械谢械褌械薪褋褜泻褍 褏胁懈谢褞 褉褨蟹薪芯屑邪薪褨褌薪懈褏 褋胁褨褌芯谐谢褟写薪懈褏, 褎褨谢芯褋芯褎褋褜泻懈褏, 械褌懈褔薪懈褏 锌懈褌邪薪褜, 褍 褟泻懈泄 斜械蟹褌褍褉斜芯褌薪懈泄 褔懈褌邪褔 屑芯卸械 胁褌芯薪褍褌懈. 袦芯褩 褔邪褋褌泻芯胁芯 邪褌褉芯褎褉胁邪薪褨 褋褍褔邪褋薪懈屑 卸懈褌褌褟屑 屑褨蟹泻懈 锌褨写 褔邪褋 褔懈褌邪薪薪褟 "小谢褨锌芯斜邪褔械薪薪褟" 褔褍褏邪谢懈褋褟, 褟泻 芯褌褨 褋褌褉褍锌懈 薪邪 锌芯斜懈褌懈褏 锌褨写 褔邪褋 谢褨褌薪褜芯谐芯 斜褨谐褍 泻芯谢褨薪邪褏.
笑械 褌邪泻邪 泻薪懈谐邪, 褟泻褍 薪械 谐褉褨褏 斜褍写械 褨 锌械褉械褔懈褌邪褌懈 褟泻芯褋褜 蟹谐芯写芯屑. 袦芯褩 蟹胁懈胁懈薪懈 胁卸械 泄 蟹邪褉邪蟹 斜械薪褌械卸薪芯 褌褉械屑褌褟褌褜 胁褨写 锌械褉械写褔褍褌褌褟 褌邪泻芯谐芯 锌械褉械褔懈褌褍胁邪薪薪褟.
袦芯褦 蟹薪邪泄芯屑褋褌胁芯 蟹 薪邪褍泻芯胁芯褞 褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈泻芯褞 褉芯蟹锌芯褔邪谢芯褋褟 褍 写芯褋褌邪褌薪褜芯 褉邪薪薪褜芯屑褍 胁褨褑褨, 锌芯蟹邪褟泻 褟 蟹邪薪邪写褌芯 褕胁懈写泻芯 锌械褉械褔懈褌邪胁 褍褋褨 泻邪蟹泻懈 薪邪褉芯写褨胁 褋胁褨褌褍, 锌褉懈谐芯写懈 袧褦蟹薪邪泄泻懈 褌邪 谐械褉芯褩胁 袞褞谢褟 袙械褉薪邪 薪邪 袦褨褋褟褑褨, 蟹邪谐褍斜谢械薪褨 褋胁褨褌懈 袣芯薪邪薪-袛芯泄谢褟, 写褨蟹薪邪胁褋褟 锌褉芯 褋锌褉邪胁卸薪褞 卸邪谐褍 写芯 卸懈褌褌褟 胁褨写 袛卸械泻邪 袥芯薪写芯薪邪 褌邪 写械泻褨谢褜泻邪 褉邪蟹褨胁 薪械锌芯谐邪薪芯 锌芯芯写褨褋械褩胁 蟹 泻邪锌褨褌邪薪芯屑 袘谢邪写芯屑. 袘褨斜谢褨芯褌械泻邪褉泻邪 斜褍谢邪 蟹屑褍褕械薪邪 胁懈写邪褌懈 屑械薪褨 写芯锌褍褋泻 胁 写芯褉芯褋谢褍 蟹邪谢褍 褋褨谢褜褋褜泻芯褩 斜褨斜谢褨芯褌械泻懈, 斜芯 褍 写懈褌褟褔褨泄 褌邪 锌褨写谢褨褌泻芯胁褨泄 褩褩 褔邪褋褌懈薪邪褏 褟 胁卸械 胁褨写胁械褉褌芯 薪褍写褜谐褍胁邪胁.
袧械 写褍屑邪褞, 褖芯 褟 屑褨谐 芯斜褉邪褌懈 蟹 胁械谢懈泻芯褩 泻褨谢褜泻芯褋褌褨 泻薪懈谐 褌芯写褨, 褍 锌械褉褕褨泄 锌芯谢芯胁懈薪褨 90-褏 褉芯泻褨胁 啸啸 褋褌., 邪谢械 褟 褌芯褔薪芯 褔懈褌邪胁 褟泻褨褋褜 褌胁芯褉懈 袣谢褨褎褎芯褉写邪 小褨屑邪泻邪, "小械谢懈褖械" 袣褨褉邪 袘褍谢懈褔芯胁邪, 邪 褌邪泻芯卸 芯锌芯胁褨写邪薪薪褟, 锌芯胁褨褋褌褨 邪斜芯 褍褉懈胁泻懈 褉芯屑邪薪褨胁, 泻芯褌褉褨 写褉褍泻褍胁邪谢懈褋褟 胁 褌邪泻芯屑褍 褋芯斜褨 褋芯胁褦褑褜泻芯屑褍 卸褍褉薪邪谢褨 "袉褋泻邪褌褦谢褜" 鈥� 蟹芯泻褉械屑邪 褨 写械褟泻褨 蟹 芯锌芯胁褨写邪薪褜 袪芯斜械褉褌邪 楔械泻谢褨. 肖邪薪褌邪褋褌懈褔薪械 芯锌芯胁褨写邪薪薪褟 "袩芯谢械 斜芯褞", 薪邪锌懈褋邪薪械 小褌褨胁械薪芯屑 袣褨薪谐芯屑, 褟 锌褉芯褔懈褌邪胁 褍 卸褍褉薪邪谢褨 "挟薪懈泄 褌褦褏薪褨泻", 邪 褍褉懈胁泻懈 蟹 褉芯屑邪薪褍 "袟芯褉褟薪褨 泻芯褉芯谢褨" 袝写屑芯薪邪 袚邪屑褨谢褜褌芯薪邪 褌芯褔薪芯 斜邪褔懈胁 褍 卸褍褉薪邪谢褨 "孝褦褏薪褨泻邪 屑芯谢芯写褜芯卸褨".听 笑械 斜褍谢懈 屑芯褩 谢褨褌械褉邪褌褍褉薪褨 "褑胁褟褏邪屑懈 锌褉懈斜懈褌褨 写芯 锌褨写谢芯谐懈 褨谐褉邪褕泻懈"...
袩械褉褕邪 薪邪褍泻芯胁芯-褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈褔薪邪 泻薪懈谐邪, 褟泻邪 蟹'褟胁懈谢邪褋褟 褍 屑械薪械 胁写芯屑邪, 薪邪谢械卸邪谢邪 锌械褉褍 袥芯褩褋 袦邪泻屑邪褋褌械褉 袘褍写卸芯谢写 褨, 蟹写邪褦褌褜褋褟, 薪邪蟹懈胁邪谢邪褋褟 "校谢邪屑泻懈 褔械褋褌褨", 邪 锌械褉褕芯褞 褋锌褉邪胁卸薪褜芯褞 褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈泻芯褞, 褟泻褍 褟 泻褍锌懈胁 褋芯斜褨 褋邪屑 (写械褋褜 褟泻褉邪蟹 薪邪 屑械卸褨 褌懈褋褟褔芯谢褨褌褜), 褋褌邪谢邪 "袛褞薪邪" 肖褉械薪泻邪 袚械褉斜械褉褌邪. 袟 褌懈褏 写邪谢械泻懈褏 褔邪褋褨胁 褟 胁胁邪卸邪褞 褋械斜械 锌芯褑褨薪芯胁褍胁邪褔械屑 薪邪褍泻芯胁芯褩 褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈泻懈, 锌芯锌褉懈 褌械, 褖芯 褉械邪谢褜薪褨褋褌褜 褌邪 写芯褋胁褨写 褔邪褋褌芯 褋胁褨写褔懈褌褜 锌褉芯 褨薪褕械 (褍 2024 褉芯褑褨, 薪邪锌褉懈泻谢邪写, 褟 锌褉芯褔懈褌邪胁 薪械 斜褨谢褜褕械 2-3 泻薪懈谐 褑褜芯谐芯 卸邪薪褉褍).
小邪屑械 褌芯屑褍, 屑邪斜褍褌褜, 胁懈褉褨褕懈胁 褉芯蟹锌芯褔邪褌懈 2025 褉褨泻 鈥� 褉褨泻 写邪谢械泻芯谐芯 屑邪泄斜褍褌薪褜芯谐芯 鈥� 蟹 泻薪懈谐懈, 薪邪 褟泻褍 褟 胁卸械 泻褨谢褜泻邪 褉芯泻褨胁 锌芯蟹懈褉邪胁 蟹 锌械胁薪懈屑 芯褋褌褉邪褏芯屑. "小谢褨锌芯斜邪褔械薪薪褟", 锌芯锌褉懈 泄芯谐芯 "褋械褉泄芯蟹薪褨褋褌褜" 褌邪 "薪邪褍泻芯胁褨褋褌褜", 胁懈褟胁懈谢芯褋褟 褋褌褉邪褕械薪薪芯 褑褨泻邪胁芯褞 泻薪懈谐芯褞, 屑芯卸械 薪邪胁褨褌褜 芯写薪懈屑 蟹 薪邪泄泻褉邪褖懈褏 薪邪褍泻芯胁芯-褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈褔薪懈褏 褉芯屑邪薪褨胁, 褟泻褨 屑械薪褨 写芯胁芯写懈谢芯褋褟 褔懈褌邪褌懈.
袙褋械 胁褨写斜褍胁邪褦褌褜褋褟 褍 薪械 薪邪写褌芯 写邪谢械泻芯屑褍 (褔械褉械蟹 锌'褟写褌械褋褟褌 蟹 泻芯锌褨泄泻邪屑懈 褉芯泻褨胁) 屑邪泄斜褍褌薪褜芯屑褍 胁褨写 写薪褟 褋褜芯谐芯写薪褨褕薪褜芯谐芯 鈥� 薪邪 锌谢邪薪械褌褨 袟械屑谢褨 褌邪 泻褉邪褞 小芯薪褟褔薪芯褩 褋懈褋褌械屑懈. 袪芯蟹锌芯褔懈薪邪褦褌褜褋褟 褑褟 褨褋褌芯褉褨褟 写褍卸械 褌褉懈胁芯卸薪芯 褌邪 蟹邪谐邪写泻芯胁芯: 芯写薪芯谐芯 写薪褟 写械褋褟褌泻懈 褌懈褋褟褔 蟹芯薪写褨胁 薪械胁褨写芯屑芯谐芯 锌芯褏芯写卸械薪薪褟 褉邪锌褌芯胁芯 蟹'褟胁谢褟褞褌褜褋褟 褍 薪械斜褨 薪邪写 胁褋褨褦褞 锌芯胁械褉褏薪械褞 锌谢邪薪械褌懈 褨 蟹谐芯褉褟褞褌褜 胁 邪褌屑芯褋褎械褉褨. 袧邪泄泻褉邪褖褨 谐芯谢芯胁懈 蟹-锌芯褋械褉械写 蟹械屑薪懈褏 胁褔械薪懈褏 褉芯蟹褍屑褨褞褌褜, 褖芯 锌芯邪薪械褌褍 褋褎芯褌芯谐褉邪褎褍胁邪谢懈, 芯斜屑褨褉褟谢懈 褌邪 锌褉芯褋泻邪薪褍胁邪谢懈 褍 胁褋械屑芯卸谢懈胁懈褏 褎芯褉屑邪褌邪褏 褌邪 褋锌械泻褌褉邪褏. 袗谢械 褏褌芯 褨 薪邪胁褨褖芯 褑械 蟹褉芯斜懈胁?听
袩褨褋谢褟 褌芯谐芯, 褟泻 薪邪 泻褉邪褞 小芯薪褟褔薪芯褩 褋懈褋褌械屑懈 蟹邪褋褨泻谢懈 邪薪芯屑邪谢褜薪褍 邪泻褌懈胁薪褨褋褌褜, 褌褍写懈 胁懈褉褍褕邪褦 褋褍锌械褉褋褍褔邪褋薪懈泄 泻芯褋屑褨褔薪懈泄 泻芯褉邪斜械谢褜 "孝械蟹械泄", 蟹邪锌邪泻芯胁邪薪懈泄 薪邪泄泻褉邪褖懈屑懈, 薪邪泄泻褉褍褌褨褕懈屑懈, 薪邪泄斜褨谢褜褕 锌械褉械写芯胁懈屑懈 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨褟屑懈 鈥� 蟹芯泻褉械屑邪 泻芯褉邪斜械谢褜 胁屑褨褦 胁懈谐芯褌芯胁懈褌懈 胁谢邪褋薪懈屑懈 褋懈谢邪屑懈 锌褉邪泻褌懈褔薪芯 褖芯 蟹邪胁谐芯写薪芯, 邪谢械 谢械褌褨褌懈 胁褨薪 屑芯卸械 谢懈褕械 褍蟹写芯胁卸 谢邪蟹械褉薪芯谐芯 锌褉芯屑械薪褟, 蟹邪胁写褟泻懈 褟泻芯屑褍 芯褌褉懈屑褍褦 邪薪褌懈屑邪褌械褉褨褦褞 写谢褟 写胁懈谐褍薪褨胁. 袧械 斜褍写褍 芯斜屑褨薪褞胁邪褌懈褋褟 褋邪屑 褨 斜褉械褏邪褌懈 褨薪褕懈屑, 薪邪褔械斜褌芯 褟 蟹褉芯蟹褍屑褨胁 胁褋褨 锌芯褟褋薪械薪薪褟 邪胁褌芯褉邪 褖芯写芯 锌褉懈薪褑懈锌褨胁 褉芯斜芯褌懈 褉褨蟹薪芯屑邪薪褨褌薪懈褏 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨泄, 胁褨褉褞 泄芯屑褍 薪邪 褋谢芯胁芯. 袗谢械 褨 写谢褟 芯褌褉懈屑邪薪薪褟 蟹邪写芯胁芯谢械薪薪褟 胁褨写 锌褉芯褔懈褌邪薪薪褟 泻薪懈谐懈 薪械 芯斜芯胁'褟蟹泻芯胁芯 褉芯蟹褍屑褨褌懈褋褟 薪邪 泻胁邪薪褌芯胁褨泄 褎褨蟹懈褑褨 褌邪 锌褉懈薪褑懈锌邪褏 褎褍薪泻褑褨芯薪褍胁邪薪薪褟 谐芯谢芯胁薪芯谐芯 褌邪 褋锌懈薪薪芯谐芯 屑芯蟹泻褨胁. 袧械 芯斜芯胁'褟蟹泻芯胁芯, 邪谢械 斜邪卸邪薪芯. 孝芯卸, 褟泻褖芯 胁懈 褌褉芯褏懈 褕邪褉懈褌械 褎褨蟹懈泻褍, 邪褋褌褉芯薪芯屑褨褞, 泻胁邪薪褌芯胁褍 屑械褏邪薪褨泻褍 褌邪 斜褨芯谢芯谐褨褞 胁懈褖懈褏 锌褉懈屑邪褌褨胁 褌邪 写褍卸械 写懈胁薪懈褏 锌褉懈斜褍谢褜褑褨胁 鈥� 褟 胁邪屑 蟹邪蟹写褉褞.
袣芯屑邪薪写邪 "孝械蟹械褟" 褋泻谢邪写邪褦褌褜褋褟 蟹 褔芯褌懈褉褜芯褏 胁懈褋芯泻芯泻谢邪褋薪懈褏 褋锌械褑褨邪谢褨褋褌褨胁 褨 褌褉芯褏懈 褋芯褑褨芯锌邪褌褨胁 褌邪 胁懈薪褟褌泻芯胁芯谐芯 泻芯屑邪薪写懈褉邪 械泻褨锌邪卸褍. 袙褋褨 胁芯薪懈 斜褨谢褜褕械, 薪褨卸 锌褉芯褋褌芯 谢褞写懈: 谢褨薪谐胁褨褋褌懈泻邪 小褞蟹邪薪 袛卸械泄屑褋 褋泻谢邪写邪褦褌褜褋褟 蟹 屑薪芯卸懈薪懈 芯褋芯斜懈褋褌芯褋褌械泄 鈥� 袘邪薪写懈, 泻芯褌褉褨 卸懈胁褍褌褜 胁 芯写薪芯屑褍 屑芯蟹泻褍, 屑芯卸褍褌褜 褋锌褨谢泻褍胁邪褌懈褋褟 屑褨卸 褋芯斜芯褞 褌邪 屑褨薪褟褌懈褋褟 屑褨褋褑褟屑懈, 斜褨芯谢芯谐 袉褋邪邪泻 楔锌褨薪写械谢褜 屑芯卸械 锌褨写泻谢褞褔邪褌懈褋褟 褋胁褨写芯屑褨褋褌褞 写芯 褉褨蟹薪芯屑邪薪褨褌薪懈褏 屑械褏邪薪褨蟹屑褨胁, 胁褨泄褋褜泻芯胁邪 袗屑邪薪写邪 袘械泄褌褋 蟹写邪褌薪邪 写懈褋褌邪薪褑褨泄薪芯 泻械褉褍胁邪褌懈 斜芯泄芯胁懈屑懈 褉芯斜芯褌邪屑懈-锌褨褏芯褌懈薪褑褟屑懈, 薪械薪邪写褨泄薪懈泄 芯锌芯胁褨写邪褔, 蟹邪锌邪泻芯胁邪薪懈泄 褨屑锌谢邪薪褌邪褌邪屑懈 褋锌芯褋褌械褉褨谐邪褔 褌邪 "泻芯屑褨褋邪褉" 小褨褉褨 袣褨褌芯薪听 芯褌褉懈屑褍褦 褉芯谢褜 褏褉芯薪褨褋褌邪 屑褨褋褨褩 褨 邪褉斜褨褌褉邪, 褟泻芯屑褍 胁懈谢褍褔懈谢懈 芯写薪褍 锌褨胁泻褍谢褞 屑芯蟹泻褍, 褖芯斜懈 锌芯蟹斜邪胁懈褌懈 械锌褨谢械锌褋褨褩, 邪谢械 褌邪泻懈屑 褔懈薪芯屑 锌芯蟹斜邪胁懈谢懈 泄芯谐芯 褌邪泻芯卸 械屑锌邪褌褨褩, 锌芯褔褍褌褌褨胁 褌邪 械屑芯褑褨泄 鈥� 胁褨薪 锌芯胁懈薪械薪 写芯锌芯屑邪谐邪褌懈 泻芯屑褍薪褨泻褍胁邪褌懈 褉械褕褌褨 褔谢械薪褨胁 泻芯屑邪薪写懈, 褟泻褖芯 褍 薪懈褏 蟹 褑懈屑 胁懈薪懈泻薪褍褌褜 锌褉芯斜谢械屑懈. 袣芯卸械薪 蟹 褑懈褏 锌械褉褋芯薪邪卸褨胁 褌邪泻芯卸 屑邪褦 写褍斜谢械褉邪 (胁芯薪懈 蟹薪邪褏芯写褟褌褜褋褟 褍 "薪械屑械褉褌胁芯屑褍" 褋褌邪薪褨 邪薪邪斜褨芯蟹褍, 写芯泻懈 薪械 蟹'褟胁懈褌褜褋褟 锌芯褌褉械斜邪 褉芯蟹斜褍写懈褌懈). 袣芯屑邪薪写褍褦 褑懈屑 锌邪薪芯锌褌懈泻褍屑芯屑 胁邪屑锌褨褉 挟泻泻邪 小邪褉邪褋褌褨.
孝邪泻-褌邪泻, 胁邪屑锌褨褉. 袙懈屑械褉谢懈泄 胁懈写, 芯写薪邪 蟹 谐褨谢芯泻 锌褉械写泻褨胁 谢褞写懈薪懈, 褏懈卸邪泻 蟹 薪邪写蟹胁懈褔邪泄薪懈屑懈 褉芯蟹褍屑芯胁懈屑懈 褌邪 邪薪邪谢褨褌懈褔薪懈屑懈 蟹写褨斜薪芯褋褌褟屑懈. 校 褔谢械薪褨胁 泻芯屑邪薪写懈 褌邪泻懈泄 泻芯屑邪薪写懈褉 胁懈泻谢懈泻邪褦 褌胁邪褉懈薪薪懈泄 卸邪褏, 薪邪胁褨褌褜 褍 写械褖芯 锌芯写褨斜薪芯谐芯 写芯 Siri 褌邪 ChatGPT - 小褨褉褨 袣褨褌芯薪邪.
袧邪 芯泻芯谢懈褑褨 小芯薪褟褔薪芯褩 褋懈褋褌械屑懈 "孝械蟹械泄" 薪邪褌懈泻邪褦褌褜褋褟 薪邪 褖芯褋褜, 褖芯 薪邪蟹懈胁邪褦 褋械斜械 "袪芯褉褕邪褏芯屑". 笑械 褟胁懈褖械 屑芯卸薪邪 胁胁邪卸邪褌懈 泻芯褉邪斜谢械屑 锌褉懈斜褍谢褜褑褨胁, 胁褨写褌邪泻 写邪谢褨 屑邪褦 胁褨写斜褍褌懈褋褟 褨 锌械褉褕懈泄 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌, 褖芯 斜懈 褑械 薪械 芯蟹薪邪褔邪谢芯, 邪谢械 薪邪褌芯屑褨褋褌褜 锌芯褔懈薪邪褦褌褜褋褟 褋锌褉邪胁卸薪褦 斜芯卸械胁褨谢谢褟.
袩褨褌械褉 袙芯褌褌褋 蟹写褨泄屑邪褦 褌邪泻褍 胁械谢械褌械薪褋褜泻褍 褏胁懈谢褞 褉褨蟹薪芯屑邪薪褨褌薪懈褏 褋胁褨褌芯谐谢褟写薪懈褏, 褎褨谢芯褋芯褎褋褜泻懈褏, 械褌懈褔薪懈褏 锌懈褌邪薪褜, 褍 褟泻懈泄 斜械蟹褌褍褉斜芯褌薪懈泄 褔懈褌邪褔 屑芯卸械 胁褌芯薪褍褌懈. 袦芯褩 褔邪褋褌泻芯胁芯 邪褌褉芯褎褉胁邪薪褨 褋褍褔邪褋薪懈屑 卸懈褌褌褟屑 屑褨蟹泻懈 锌褨写 褔邪褋 褔懈褌邪薪薪褟 "小谢褨锌芯斜邪褔械薪薪褟" 褔褍褏邪谢懈褋褟, 褟泻 芯褌褨 褋褌褉褍锌懈 薪邪 锌芯斜懈褌懈褏 锌褨写 褔邪褋 谢褨褌薪褜芯谐芯 斜褨谐褍 泻芯谢褨薪邪褏.
笑械 褌邪泻邪 泻薪懈谐邪, 褟泻褍 薪械 谐褉褨褏 斜褍写械 褨 锌械褉械褔懈褌邪褌懈 褟泻芯褋褜 蟹谐芯写芯屑. 袦芯褩 蟹胁懈胁懈薪懈 胁卸械 泄 蟹邪褉邪蟹 斜械薪褌械卸薪芯 褌褉械屑褌褟褌褜 胁褨写 锌械褉械写褔褍褌褌褟 褌邪泻芯谐芯 锌械褉械褔懈褌褍胁邪薪薪褟.
February 4, 2013
P贸ngase una buena cantidad de H.P. Lovecraft. A continuaci贸n, a帽谩dase un buen chorro de Alastair Reynolds, y una pizca de Greg Egan. Y como ingrediente secreto, un chorrito de H.R. Giger. Ag铆tese bien y ya tenemos el resultado: 'Visi贸n ciega', de Peter Watts. S铆rvase con precauci贸n, ya que este cocktail no es para cualquier paladar.
Esta es una novela de primer contacto, pero maneja ideas tan complejas y poco comunes, que la alejan de cualquier otra novela que haya tratado este tema anteriormente. Es oscura, muy oscura; est谩 ambientada en una atm贸sfera sumamente claustrof贸bica y temible.
Decir que es ciencia ficci贸n hard es quedarse corto. De hecho, al final del libro hay un ap茅ndice con cantidad de notas explicativas y bibliograf铆a utilizadas por Watts durante la concepci贸n de su obra.
Peque帽a sinopsis: en el a帽o 2082, aparecieron en el cielo m谩s de 65.000 sondas que rodearon la Tierra por completo. Tras un destello, se desintegraron. El resultado: acababan de hacernos una foto. Era una prueba de la existencia de vida extraterrestre, pero 驴hostil o pac铆fica? Se decidi贸 mandar una misi贸n tripulada formada por: Jukka Sarasti, un vampiro y jefe de la misi贸n (s铆 amigos, se han encontrado pruebas cient铆ficas de hace m谩s de 500.000 a帽os que atestiguan la existencia del Homo sapiens vampiris, una subespecie humana, que en la novela ha sido tra铆da de nuevo a la vida gen茅ticamente); Isaac Szpindel, bi贸logo, para estudiar a los alien铆genas; Amanda Bates, mayor del ej茅rcito, por si hay que luchar; la Banda de los Cuatro, que posee cuatro personalidades diferentes al tener el cerebro dividido, especialista en ling眉铆stica, para hablar con ellos; y Siri Keeton, sinteticista o jergonauta, para observar, debido a su capacidad de an谩lisis de subtextos y topolog铆as.
El narrador y protagonista es Siri, a trav茅s del cual iremos conociendo los sucesos que est谩n pasando; al mismo tiempo, ir谩 recordando episodios de su pasado anteriores a la misi贸n.
Hay partes verdaderamente escalofriantes y memorables, como el Big Ben, una masa joviana de magnitudes gigantescas, o la nave alien铆gena, de verdadera pesadilla.
Recomendar铆a este libro s贸lo a aquellos lectores con un cierto bagaje en el g茅nero de la ciencia ficci贸n, en especial en la ciencia ficci贸n hard, m谩s dura, ya que, aunque no es una novela de Greg Egan, s铆 hay ciertos pasajes algo 谩ridos para el ne贸fito.
Esta es una novela de primer contacto, pero maneja ideas tan complejas y poco comunes, que la alejan de cualquier otra novela que haya tratado este tema anteriormente. Es oscura, muy oscura; est谩 ambientada en una atm贸sfera sumamente claustrof贸bica y temible.
Decir que es ciencia ficci贸n hard es quedarse corto. De hecho, al final del libro hay un ap茅ndice con cantidad de notas explicativas y bibliograf铆a utilizadas por Watts durante la concepci贸n de su obra.
Peque帽a sinopsis: en el a帽o 2082, aparecieron en el cielo m谩s de 65.000 sondas que rodearon la Tierra por completo. Tras un destello, se desintegraron. El resultado: acababan de hacernos una foto. Era una prueba de la existencia de vida extraterrestre, pero 驴hostil o pac铆fica? Se decidi贸 mandar una misi贸n tripulada formada por: Jukka Sarasti, un vampiro y jefe de la misi贸n (s铆 amigos, se han encontrado pruebas cient铆ficas de hace m谩s de 500.000 a帽os que atestiguan la existencia del Homo sapiens vampiris, una subespecie humana, que en la novela ha sido tra铆da de nuevo a la vida gen茅ticamente); Isaac Szpindel, bi贸logo, para estudiar a los alien铆genas; Amanda Bates, mayor del ej茅rcito, por si hay que luchar; la Banda de los Cuatro, que posee cuatro personalidades diferentes al tener el cerebro dividido, especialista en ling眉铆stica, para hablar con ellos; y Siri Keeton, sinteticista o jergonauta, para observar, debido a su capacidad de an谩lisis de subtextos y topolog铆as.
El narrador y protagonista es Siri, a trav茅s del cual iremos conociendo los sucesos que est谩n pasando; al mismo tiempo, ir谩 recordando episodios de su pasado anteriores a la misi贸n.
Hay partes verdaderamente escalofriantes y memorables, como el Big Ben, una masa joviana de magnitudes gigantescas, o la nave alien铆gena, de verdadera pesadilla.
Recomendar铆a este libro s贸lo a aquellos lectores con un cierto bagaje en el g茅nero de la ciencia ficci贸n, en especial en la ciencia ficci贸n hard, m谩s dura, ya que, aunque no es una novela de Greg Egan, s铆 hay ciertos pasajes algo 谩ridos para el ne贸fito.
March 5, 2024
Strange, complex, gorgeous.
May 1, 2016
Blindsight: Mind-blowing hard SF about first contact, consciousness
Originally posted at
This is 鈥榟ard SF鈥� in the truest sense of the term - hard science concepts, hard to understand writing at times, and hard-edged philosophy of mind and consciousness. It aggressively tackles weighty subjects like artificial intelligence, evolutionary biology, genetic modification, sentience vs intelligence, first contact with aliens utterly different from humanity, and a dystopian future where humans are almost superfluous and would rather retreat into VR. It鈥檚 also a tightly-told story of an exploration vessel manned by five heavily-modified posthumans commanded by a super-intelligent vampire, and a very tense and claustrophobic narrative that demands a lot from readers. If that sounds like your kind of book, you鈥檒l find this is one of the best hard SF books in the last 10 years.
I try to avoid using the term 鈥榤ind-blowing鈥� when it comes to hard SF. After all, the phrase is over-used by readers and publishers alike, but once in a while a book comes along and just knocks you off your feet, leaving you struggling to get your head around it. There are plenty of hard SF books that throw dozens of complex scientific and philosophic ideas at you, trying to show how smart the author is, but I haven鈥檛 encountered many SF books in which the characters, backstory and first contact are all different iterations of the same central argument: human sentience is a fluke of evolution that is not indispensable for survival, and could be a hindrance in the grand scheme of things, i.e. humanity could be a lone aberration in a cold and unsympathetic universe.
The First Contact plot is familiar - a shower of mysterious probes (later dubbed 鈥榝ireflies鈥�) enter Earth鈥檚 atmosphere, send out a flood of electro-magnetic info, and burn up. Clearly an alien intelligence has scanned the planet, but why? Several years pass without any further developments. However, when an alien signal is detected from a distant comet, humanity scrambles to put together an exploratory team that will be able to investigate and perhaps initiate First Contact, one of the most fundamental SF tropes in the genre. The twist is that 鈥榖aseline鈥� humanity has lost its taste for adventure, and would rather send highly-specialized transhumans instead.
The new Millennium changed all that. We've surpassed ourselves now, we're exploring terrain beyond the limits of merely human understanding. Sometimes its contours, even in conventional space, are just too intricate for our brains to track; other times its very axes extend into dimensions inconceivable to minds built to fuck and fight on some prehistoric grassland. So many things constrain us, from so many directions.The most altruistic and sustainable philosophies fail before the brute brain-stem imperative of self-interest. Subtle and elegant equations predict the behavior of the quantum world, but none can explain it. After four thousand years we can't even prove that reality exists beyond the mind of the first-person dreamer. We have such need of intellects greater than our own.
The crew of the Theseus consists of five transhumans, an AI ship captain, and a cold-blooded genetically-engineered vampire leader (and it doesn鈥檛 sparkle in sunlight or brood in the high school cafeteria either). They are Siri Keaton, a 鈥楽ynthesist鈥� assigned to observe the mission and report to 鈥榖aseline鈥� humanity back home; Amanda Bates, a combat expert hardwired to control robot grunts; Isaac Szpindel, a biologist and doctor keen to examine xenobiology if the opportunity arises; his backup Robert Cunningham; Susan James, a linguist with 3 other distinct personalities known collectively as The Gang; and Jukka Sarasti, a hyper-intelligent vampire cloned from DNA of a long-extinct offshoot of humanity from the Pliocene era.
Our narrator Siri is very unusual, as is the rest of the crew: he鈥檚 had half his brain removed in favor of implanted technology that allows him to read the minute physical movements (鈥榯opology鈥�) of people and analyze behavioral patterns based on this. He describes himself thus:
In formal settings you'd call me Synthesist. On the street you call me jargonaut or poppy. If you're one of those savants whose hard-won truths are being bastardized and lobotomized for powerful know-nothings interested only in market share, you might call me a mole or a chaperone.
We won't admit that our creations are beyond us; they may speak in tongues, but our priests can read those signs. Gods leave their algorithms carved into the mountainside but it's just li'l ol' me bringing the tablets down to the masses, and I don't threaten anyone. Maybe the Singularity happened years ago. We just don鈥檛 want to admit we were left behind.
Peter Watts excels at describing things from the perspective of being so far advanced and modified by technology and gene-therapy that old-fashioned 鈥榖aseline鈥� humans cannot understand them. It鈥檚 always a challenge to write hard SF that purports to describe a complex future that is, by definition, impossible for current readers to understand. Sometimes this comes off as pure scientific 鈥榟and-wavery鈥� that is merely fantasy hidden behind layers of technical-sounding jargon. And unless you actually are an evolutionary biologist with a PhD in particle physics and quantum theory, it鈥檚 basically impossible for the vast majority of SF readers to know whether a 鈥榟ard SF鈥� book is plausible or complete nonsense. Therefore, if it makes you feel like you are in an incredibly advanced and complex future, I think its done its job well, and Blindsight certainly achieved this for me.
Speaking of which, the title refers to the real phenomenon of blindsight, defined online as: 鈥淭he ability to respond to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving them, a condition which can occur after certain types of brain damage.鈥� As the story progresses, Watts introduces more examples of this in the natural world and neurobiology - what it comes down to is that we rely on the chemical messages sent by our nervous system to create our picture of the physical world around us. We are not actually 鈥榮eeing鈥� it directly at all. So if an external force can manipulate the signals our brains receive, we would be at their mercy. It鈥檚 a fascinating and scary concept, and it gets plenty of book time.
Going back to the central plot, things get interesting when the Theseus crew actually encounters a giant alien spacecraft near the comet in question and investigate it. I鈥檓 sure we鈥檝e all read so many similar setups that it may sound completely familiar territory, but when Peter Watts throws his super-intelligent transhumans at the problem, their responses and actions are very different indeed.
Any further details would spoil your enjoyment as things gets fast and furious as things go wrong very quickly. Yet there is a heavy interweaving of discussions on the nature of perception, humanity, consciousness, sentience, and how humanity鈥檚 understanding of these things gets turned upside down by the aliens it encounters. Dare I say that the discussions and action are equally mind-blowing? The audiobook is narrated by T. Ryder Smith, and he does a solid job with difficult material.
It鈥檚 interesting to read the wide range of responses to a book you enjoyed so much. In the case of Blindsight, readers have said it was brilliant, unreadable, incomprehensible, incredibly pessimistic about humanity, mind-expanding, or a mix of all those things. Your response will depend largely on what type of SF you enjoy most, but if you are hungry for a hard SF story that tackles a classic SF theme with a host of cutting-edge scientific concepts in a fiercely-intelligent way, and expects the reader to work hard to keep up, you will not be disappointed.
Many have strongly disagreed with the central argument of the book, but I don鈥檛 think that should detract from appreciating it. I expect SF to challenge me with new and mind-expanding ideas - I don鈥檛 have to agree or be convinced, as long as the argument is worth debating. No truly important issues are resolved in the span of any single book or discussion, but I guarantee this book will make you question the value of intelligence and sentience, in which case it has accomplished its goal.
Originally posted at
This is 鈥榟ard SF鈥� in the truest sense of the term - hard science concepts, hard to understand writing at times, and hard-edged philosophy of mind and consciousness. It aggressively tackles weighty subjects like artificial intelligence, evolutionary biology, genetic modification, sentience vs intelligence, first contact with aliens utterly different from humanity, and a dystopian future where humans are almost superfluous and would rather retreat into VR. It鈥檚 also a tightly-told story of an exploration vessel manned by five heavily-modified posthumans commanded by a super-intelligent vampire, and a very tense and claustrophobic narrative that demands a lot from readers. If that sounds like your kind of book, you鈥檒l find this is one of the best hard SF books in the last 10 years.
I try to avoid using the term 鈥榤ind-blowing鈥� when it comes to hard SF. After all, the phrase is over-used by readers and publishers alike, but once in a while a book comes along and just knocks you off your feet, leaving you struggling to get your head around it. There are plenty of hard SF books that throw dozens of complex scientific and philosophic ideas at you, trying to show how smart the author is, but I haven鈥檛 encountered many SF books in which the characters, backstory and first contact are all different iterations of the same central argument: human sentience is a fluke of evolution that is not indispensable for survival, and could be a hindrance in the grand scheme of things, i.e. humanity could be a lone aberration in a cold and unsympathetic universe.
The First Contact plot is familiar - a shower of mysterious probes (later dubbed 鈥榝ireflies鈥�) enter Earth鈥檚 atmosphere, send out a flood of electro-magnetic info, and burn up. Clearly an alien intelligence has scanned the planet, but why? Several years pass without any further developments. However, when an alien signal is detected from a distant comet, humanity scrambles to put together an exploratory team that will be able to investigate and perhaps initiate First Contact, one of the most fundamental SF tropes in the genre. The twist is that 鈥榖aseline鈥� humanity has lost its taste for adventure, and would rather send highly-specialized transhumans instead.
The new Millennium changed all that. We've surpassed ourselves now, we're exploring terrain beyond the limits of merely human understanding. Sometimes its contours, even in conventional space, are just too intricate for our brains to track; other times its very axes extend into dimensions inconceivable to minds built to fuck and fight on some prehistoric grassland. So many things constrain us, from so many directions.The most altruistic and sustainable philosophies fail before the brute brain-stem imperative of self-interest. Subtle and elegant equations predict the behavior of the quantum world, but none can explain it. After four thousand years we can't even prove that reality exists beyond the mind of the first-person dreamer. We have such need of intellects greater than our own.
The crew of the Theseus consists of five transhumans, an AI ship captain, and a cold-blooded genetically-engineered vampire leader (and it doesn鈥檛 sparkle in sunlight or brood in the high school cafeteria either). They are Siri Keaton, a 鈥楽ynthesist鈥� assigned to observe the mission and report to 鈥榖aseline鈥� humanity back home; Amanda Bates, a combat expert hardwired to control robot grunts; Isaac Szpindel, a biologist and doctor keen to examine xenobiology if the opportunity arises; his backup Robert Cunningham; Susan James, a linguist with 3 other distinct personalities known collectively as The Gang; and Jukka Sarasti, a hyper-intelligent vampire cloned from DNA of a long-extinct offshoot of humanity from the Pliocene era.
Our narrator Siri is very unusual, as is the rest of the crew: he鈥檚 had half his brain removed in favor of implanted technology that allows him to read the minute physical movements (鈥榯opology鈥�) of people and analyze behavioral patterns based on this. He describes himself thus:
In formal settings you'd call me Synthesist. On the street you call me jargonaut or poppy. If you're one of those savants whose hard-won truths are being bastardized and lobotomized for powerful know-nothings interested only in market share, you might call me a mole or a chaperone.
We won't admit that our creations are beyond us; they may speak in tongues, but our priests can read those signs. Gods leave their algorithms carved into the mountainside but it's just li'l ol' me bringing the tablets down to the masses, and I don't threaten anyone. Maybe the Singularity happened years ago. We just don鈥檛 want to admit we were left behind.
Peter Watts excels at describing things from the perspective of being so far advanced and modified by technology and gene-therapy that old-fashioned 鈥榖aseline鈥� humans cannot understand them. It鈥檚 always a challenge to write hard SF that purports to describe a complex future that is, by definition, impossible for current readers to understand. Sometimes this comes off as pure scientific 鈥榟and-wavery鈥� that is merely fantasy hidden behind layers of technical-sounding jargon. And unless you actually are an evolutionary biologist with a PhD in particle physics and quantum theory, it鈥檚 basically impossible for the vast majority of SF readers to know whether a 鈥榟ard SF鈥� book is plausible or complete nonsense. Therefore, if it makes you feel like you are in an incredibly advanced and complex future, I think its done its job well, and Blindsight certainly achieved this for me.
Speaking of which, the title refers to the real phenomenon of blindsight, defined online as: 鈥淭he ability to respond to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving them, a condition which can occur after certain types of brain damage.鈥� As the story progresses, Watts introduces more examples of this in the natural world and neurobiology - what it comes down to is that we rely on the chemical messages sent by our nervous system to create our picture of the physical world around us. We are not actually 鈥榮eeing鈥� it directly at all. So if an external force can manipulate the signals our brains receive, we would be at their mercy. It鈥檚 a fascinating and scary concept, and it gets plenty of book time.
Going back to the central plot, things get interesting when the Theseus crew actually encounters a giant alien spacecraft near the comet in question and investigate it. I鈥檓 sure we鈥檝e all read so many similar setups that it may sound completely familiar territory, but when Peter Watts throws his super-intelligent transhumans at the problem, their responses and actions are very different indeed.
Any further details would spoil your enjoyment as things gets fast and furious as things go wrong very quickly. Yet there is a heavy interweaving of discussions on the nature of perception, humanity, consciousness, sentience, and how humanity鈥檚 understanding of these things gets turned upside down by the aliens it encounters. Dare I say that the discussions and action are equally mind-blowing? The audiobook is narrated by T. Ryder Smith, and he does a solid job with difficult material.
It鈥檚 interesting to read the wide range of responses to a book you enjoyed so much. In the case of Blindsight, readers have said it was brilliant, unreadable, incomprehensible, incredibly pessimistic about humanity, mind-expanding, or a mix of all those things. Your response will depend largely on what type of SF you enjoy most, but if you are hungry for a hard SF story that tackles a classic SF theme with a host of cutting-edge scientific concepts in a fiercely-intelligent way, and expects the reader to work hard to keep up, you will not be disappointed.
Many have strongly disagreed with the central argument of the book, but I don鈥檛 think that should detract from appreciating it. I expect SF to challenge me with new and mind-expanding ideas - I don鈥檛 have to agree or be convinced, as long as the argument is worth debating. No truly important issues are resolved in the span of any single book or discussion, but I guarantee this book will make you question the value of intelligence and sentience, in which case it has accomplished its goal.
October 29, 2020
This is one of the strongest hard SF novels of the 21st century (so far). I read is as a part of monthly reading for October 2020 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group for the book was nominated for Hugo in 2007.
On a surface it is a first contact novel: something alien signals late XXI century Earth with thousands of meteorites burning in our sky. The planet by that time has almost reached singularity, so a strange crew is gathered, headed by a vampire. It is not a fantasy as one can guess from the end of the previous sentence but the idea that such mutation has been real in the past and allowed for hibernation among other things.
The narrator is Siri Keeton, a man, who due to serious developmental issues, had half of his brain amputated as a kid that allowed him to develop into a synthesist (鈥滶xplaining the Incomprehensible to the Indifferent."... "More like bridging the gap between the people who make the breakthroughs and the people who take the credit for them."). Other members of the team are no less odd.
The story starts in the middle, the first paragraph sounds quite incomprehensible:
It didn't start out here. Not with the scramblers or Rorschach, not with Big Ben or Theseus or the vampires. Most people would say it started with the Fireflies, but they'd be wrong. It ended with all those things.
During the first third of the novel this incomprehensibility doesn鈥檛 diminish much, which makes reading it quite a challenge. I actually have read it like a decade ago, so even after recalling in general terms what is 鈥渢he big idea鈥�, the novel was still full of surprises for me.
The book is filled with ideas from biology, linguistics, psychology and dozen other disciplines to a brim, or even more. Reading it is like eating a soup concentrate, it just too rich to enjoy. And non-linearity of the story doesn鈥檛 help. I even thought to lower my final rating of the book because in pure literary ways it is quite weak, but its wealth of ideas overweighed at the end.
On a surface it is a first contact novel: something alien signals late XXI century Earth with thousands of meteorites burning in our sky. The planet by that time has almost reached singularity, so a strange crew is gathered, headed by a vampire. It is not a fantasy as one can guess from the end of the previous sentence but the idea that such mutation has been real in the past and allowed for hibernation among other things.
The narrator is Siri Keeton, a man, who due to serious developmental issues, had half of his brain amputated as a kid that allowed him to develop into a synthesist (鈥滶xplaining the Incomprehensible to the Indifferent."... "More like bridging the gap between the people who make the breakthroughs and the people who take the credit for them."). Other members of the team are no less odd.
The story starts in the middle, the first paragraph sounds quite incomprehensible:
It didn't start out here. Not with the scramblers or Rorschach, not with Big Ben or Theseus or the vampires. Most people would say it started with the Fireflies, but they'd be wrong. It ended with all those things.
During the first third of the novel this incomprehensibility doesn鈥檛 diminish much, which makes reading it quite a challenge. I actually have read it like a decade ago, so even after recalling in general terms what is 鈥渢he big idea鈥�, the novel was still full of surprises for me.
The book is filled with ideas from biology, linguistics, psychology and dozen other disciplines to a brim, or even more. Reading it is like eating a soup concentrate, it just too rich to enjoy. And non-linearity of the story doesn鈥檛 help. I even thought to lower my final rating of the book because in pure literary ways it is quite weak, but its wealth of ideas overweighed at the end.
September 26, 2018
Was there ever a book with a more fitting title?
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