I have read a decent amount of sci-fi. One of my favourite books are Hyperion 1 & 2, Three Body Problem Trilogy, Dune, Book of the new sun and Diaspora by Greg Egan. Read some classics, too. I was never lost or really confused in these books.
Blindsight? I am at complete loss. I have no idea what's going on. Is it me or is it the book? If someone could explain the 1/3 of the book I would really appreciate it. There is no chapter summary online anywhere. I am around page 80. And I am about to drop it. I rarely drop books.
Some aliens fell from the sky, some folks going to a beacon in space. That's all I got ... Nothing in between makes sense. The dialogues just feel random. Vampires? Nothing is explained. Who are all these people in space? What are all these weird terminologies? I don't get it...
Sorry for the rant.
Edit 1: You folks are awesome! Thank you all for the prompt replies!
Edit 2: You were right folks. A bit of terminology googling. A bit of patience. And the book is finished. It was AMAZING!! I can't wait to re-read it again in the near future.
Dream Foundry has been putting up recordings of panels from their virtual convention and a lot of them have been really great. This is one they just put up on the subject of speculative biology. I had only been familiar with Tchaikovsky (Children of Time) and Watts (Blindsight) before this, but all the panelists were really insightful. I thought it might be of interest to any other SF writers who hope to create compelling aliens / otherwise speculate in the biological sciences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92-dzhxh6Bc
CONTENT WARNING: this panel contains mentions of buttholes. Multiple times.
And if anyone wants to discuss further about questions, tips, tricks, or favorite examples of speculative biology, that would be cool too!
Hi there. I loved the game theory and psychological aspects of Blindsight as well as the crazy use of terminology—I fell down so many interesting Wikiholes while reading that book. Wondering if anyone has recs for similar books they enjoy! If it helps, I really love Ted Chiang’s short stories for very similar reasons. Thanks.
I wanted to like this book. I really did. That's the only reason I went as far as I did.
I would have quit sooner, but the hype around it made me keep going. It didn't get better.
It reads like an old Dennis Miller routine-- full of obscure references and metaphors that do more to test the reader's intellectualism than advance the story. I'm well-read enough to "get" most of them (I think), but it's a chore to read, disjointed as hell, and not really enjoyable. I feel like the writer is constantly trying to impress me with how wide and deep his literary background is, rather than just tell me the story.
So, in case anyone else out there isn't "getting it" with this book, don't fret. You are not alone.
I can't make sense of who is talking and losing track of timeliness in the book. I'm about 33% in and not quite sure what is going on. Does it get easier and make more sense? I've just got to the part where they are describing the ship as a crown of thorns the size of a city.
And by similar I guess I loosely mean
- overwhelming existential dread
- a deep focus on biological sciences
- slow, ponderous exploration of the a theme
- cool as shit genetic engineering
This may be a crazy stretch but - When reading Blindsight by Peter Watts I had the strangest feeling that I recalled when reading Catcher in the Rye decades ago. Something about the unreliable narrator who is kind of a borderline sociopath? Then I noticed that the comet is named Burnes-Caulfield... Has anyone else noted a connection between these books?
I just spent 15 minutes of my coworkers time explaining the passage from Blindsight involving the Chinese Room concept. It was in response to a series of emails sent back and forth between myself and their subordinate. I was requesting information on a specific set of things that are supposed to be their department and I kept getting stonewalled, questions and barely relevant denials instead of answers.
So I walked over to their department and asked them if they'd heard of the Chinese room. They hadn't and I went on to explain it and then I explained the passage in Blindsight where the posthuman crew realized that the aliens perceived their communications as an attack. A resource depleting assault. I concluded that this was a fairly cynical framing of human communication but relevant when it came to the emails I'd just received. Also relevant to the conversation currently. I asked them if they felt attacked by my vichyssoise of verbiage and they confirmed that yes, they did indeed feel attacked. I said Then my point was made!" We laughed...
I loved Blindsight and find myself constantly thinking about Watt's insight and cynicism.
Hi Team, Would love some perspective on the following questions. Loved the audible.. walked over 20 miles while listening!
- James was speaking with Rorschach for days. Then Sarasti ended the dialogue. Later in the story, James was attempting to communicate with the Scramblers while on board Theseus. Why not open comms. and speak with Rorschach again (ie Scrambler "consciousness")?
- What the heck was the point of Sarasti attacking Siri? Was it aimed at waking his more emotional perspective and to cause doubt?
- What do you think happened after Siri made it back to Earth? Vampires rule? Humans still in power? What do you think Siri suggests when he arrives?
If this is the wrong community, please advise a better option.
I was ordering food at Gino's on Verona Rd. and two guys walked in not wearing masks. The manager of the store started chanting "Let's go Brandon" at them as they walked towards him. They were clearly friends. I said "That's not fucking cool" and asked why they weren't required to wear masks. He sarcastically said "Who's not wearing masks" as he's standing right next to them. I said I'd call the owner and he said "the owner doesn't give a shit and Dane County could go fuck itself." Several employees in the back were also not wearing masks. I walked out after dropping my order and the manager yelled "Let's go Brandon" at me. At least one other customer walked out the door.
Edit: I've complained to their other store in Middleton to try and bypass the manager at the Verona store in case he was lying about the owner not caring and I've written a complaint to the Dane County Health Departments.
#Holiday Mini reviews featuring: Joe Abercrombie, Peter Watts, Sebastien De Castelle and Naomi Novik.
I finally had some time off for a staycation to spend with family and friends, and some cycling and hiking and of course reading books; so Time for mini-reviews.
#The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik.
Part 2 of the Scholomance books, and the follow up to A Deadly Education
Here's the Blurb:
>A budding dark sorceress determined not to use her formidable powers uncovers yet more secrets about the workings of her world in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education, the start of Naomi Novik's groundbreaking crossover series.
>At the Scholomance, El, Orion, and the other students are faced with their final year--and the looming specter of graduation, a deadly ritual that leaves few students alive in its wake. El is determined that her chosen group will survive, but it is a prospect that is looking harder by the day as the savagery of the school ramps up. Until El realizes that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules .
I came out of reading - A deadly Education with one giant ball of hesitation for the follow-up; The Tropey Warning after the passionate Kiss to stay-away from the Love Interest - I really wasn't interested in the big, will they won't they, do I trust the advice with no mention of context, or do just fall in anyway blablablabla, stuff. I don't like that stuff, I don't like artificial barriers, just for a good dun,dun,dun cliffhanger, so let me tell you this book started out with me seriously relieved that we figured this out in the first few pages, and ended with me hating Naomi Novik in all the good ways a book can make you hate the author.
Galadriel is back, and she is her sarcastic self, I love the sass, the internal monologue, the self-doubt, the self-recrimination, the fear of becoming the Dark Queen, the ostracization of being the odd duck at school. I love the way El, for all her bluster, and solid meanness against everyone around her still is good, and cares about other people. I love the way this story pushes El to stop being unrelentingly nasty to herself and everyone around her.
Novik has a craft in making the monsters feel slick, and gooey, and nasty. They really come to life from the page with vivid description and action that doesn't over-stay its welcome. It assaults the senses in the right way without getting bogged down into the anatomy of creatures. From a giant slurping tongue mimic hiding in
... keep reading on reddit ➡Title mostly says it all, but I'm looking for aliens that are nearly unknowable or understandable in intent, operating on the fringe of human comprehension. I hate seeing aliens portrayed as bipedal humanoids with human thought processes and feelings. So hit me with the weirdest aliens out there and I'll be thrilled to check them all out.
Searched for mentions of the book already and it's popped up a bit every now and then so I figure there's some people who read it who might have a take on this. Haven't seen anything posted about the ending specifically so here goes:
-
I read the premise of Starfish a few years ago and couldn’t get it out of my head. The future dystopia demands power from the geothermal vents of the deep ocean floor. Working on the plants in the cold, crushing darkness tends to break most people so society’s defectives, long time givers and/or receivers of abuse already ‘pre-adapted’ to stressful environments, are augmented into essentially cyborg sea vampires that can withstand and even learn to thrive in the conditions. ‘Civilization rests on the back of its outcasts’. It’s a hell of a set up with any number of scenarios and compelling character arcs and so on that could come from that alone.
I eventually ordered a copy and tore into it in the last few days, excitedly scrutinizing and rereading various details anticipating what will happen next. The premise was coming to life in all sorts of awesome ways I hadn't expected and came to imagine from, hell I kept picturing what a TV adaptation would look like (seriously someone do it). Within a short space of time I built a fascination with these characters and this world that I don’t think I’ve ever really developed with a work of fiction before, and it practically evaporated within the last couple chapters.
Starfish is still great but it sucks going from ‘What next what next!?’ to ‘Eh, so that happened… I don’t think I care to read what happens next now...’ So here’s my reasons for being so deflated by the ending, I’m hoping someone will point out 'Actually that's not the case because...' or alternatively 'Oh yeah it kinda sucks' and I'll reach some sort of catharsis or something, anyway:
(Yes I know Watts has pretty much all his stuff for free on his site, I’m reluctant to read the sequels yet in case they sour my view of Starfish more besides these are all issues I have with this book)
1 – In a story where things are generally explained pretty well and follow sound logic the ending itself doesn’t seem to make sense for several reasons. The authorities preemptively trigger a city-destroying earthquake/tsunami more dangerous than one they had planned to kill the protagonists because they're heading to the mainland unknowingly carrying a deadly... microbe I guess you'd say. It of course doesn't work anyway as the
... keep reading on reddit ➡Any love for Blindsight here? I heard abit about it the other day when Neil Blomkamp was blowing it up on the JRE. Sounds interesting, I’m currently reading the Hyperion cantos so thinking about starting it next. What do you guys think? How does it hold up in comparison to Dune or Hyperion?
Anyone happen to know if there's an audio recording version of Peter Watts Rifters trilogy? The first book, Starfish, does (and it's great), but I'm looking for the follow-ups, Maelstrom and Behemoth. Googling has let me down, but I don't have great google-fu.
Peter Watts is a marine biologist and a scifi author winner of the Hugo Award. Sean is deeply interested in the nature of consciousness and I would absolutely love to hear an exchange between the two and what Sean makes of Watts' ideas on the topic. For instance, in his book Blindsight, Watts entertains the possibility that consciousness is what he calles an "evolutionary dead-end", a perspective that is as unexplored as it is fascinating. What do you think all think? And if you haven't, go check out Watts' book!
MeFi etiquette apparently dictates that I start this thing with IamA. Let's start with an IamNot instead.
I am not Naomi Watts's dad. I was not Pink Floyd's road manager back in the sixties. I never had anything to do with Mott the Hoople. I am not the bald guy from Millenium. I am not the @peter_watts who's all over twitter from some secret base in London, or the other one who takes pictures. I do not make wine (although I convert more than my share to urine). If I were Peter Watts the biblical scholar I might possibly kill myself.
I am definitely not the Peter Watts from Upper Dicker, whose collection of child porn got him all over the news way back in 2004, on the very same day that I told all my friends to google my name because Wired.com quoted me at length in one of their articles that happened to go up on that date. Even though I am the same age as him. I am not that Peter Watts.
IamA science fiction writer and former biologist, is what I am. I am significantly more cheerful than most people seem to expect. I am here to answer your questions this very evening at 7pm EDT, but you may want to post now and avoid the rush (especially since some folks out there might still think I'm the pedophile from Upper Dicker).
I am also an announcer of sorts, here to tell you that the people going by the handles "/u/mrtherussian", "/u/cjv89", and "/u/TheGreat-Zarquon" have won signed copies of my latest novel, Echopraxia. (I suppose I should get going on that.) Echopraxia was released today, and the reviews so far have been pretty glowing; I expect them to get worse over time, though.
You could ask me about that, if you like.
(Oh, right. They demand "proof" that I'm who I say I am, so: [proof] (http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=4954).)
I recognize that Blindsight has probably been the subject of countless discussions in this sub already, but I’m still new to SF and would love to get some additional input on this beast of a novel.
Finished it in one sitting, albeit with several breaks littered in between to just think and turn the ideas over in my head (had to revisit some old college biology and physics notes, lol). Definitely wasn’t the easiest read. The biology, neuroscience, astronomy, physics and philosophy concepts Watts grappled with in 300 pages could have easily been enough material to fill up five? six? separate novels. Pretty dense stuff for sure.
That said, there’s several things I’m having difficulty understanding. Although, to be fair, it’s only been a half hour since I closed the book—everything’s just a jumbled mess in my brain at this point in time, I’ll admit. I’m hoping that writing this out will help me work through some of my thoughts and grasp the ideas a bit better.
Alright, so, Watts implies (more than implies—very explicitly explains) that consciousness, or sentience (can I use the terms interchangeably?), is a handicap, an undesirable quality possessed solely by humans that makes us inferior to non-sentient beings & entities like the aliens, AI and, to a degree, vampires (they’re on track to weeding out their consciousness). I have several things I want to clarify:
- Did Watts mean to say that Siri technically lacked consciousness throughout the book because of his inability to understand what he was doing? Sure, he was going through the actions, analyzing and assessing and mimicking and communicating, but he was doing it just for the sake of doing it, he was just being a Chinese Room; he never felt any sort of human connection or empathy towards anyone; he lacked rudimentary awareness and consciousness.
- Sarasti devised a plan to force Siri to look inwards in order to get him to regain his humanity; why? I know he wanted to send Siri back to Earth to recount the events he’d witnessed, but why did Siri need to become more “human” in order to do so?
- In fact, why make Siri regain his humanity and become, potentially, the only remaining sentient creature in the universe at all if Watts literally spent 30 so pages explaining why consciousness is an impediment and disadvantage? Wouldn’t Siri have been better off as his more detached, emotionless self—especially now that he’s going to return to an Earth potentially ruled by ancient semi-sentie
Applied to 14 companies including Allstate, UnitedHeathcare, CVS, ThermoFisher, Docusign, HubSpot, VMWARE, GrubHub, Meta, Red Robin, GM, Mars, and Clubhouse
Allstate, United, Docusign, Clubhouse, and VMWare all rejected my application
I really liked Red Robin & GM, but never heard back.
Disappointing week, but I know there are others smarter, harder-working, and just better at FP&A than me. But, I'm optimistic it's a tight labor market so hopefully I can squeeze through at least one job interview by end of February.
So I’m listening to this audio book… and I’m halfway through and I can’t help but dislike the people that are choosing to abandon their jobs and their mission.
They seem to me to be a bunch of insubordinates and rabble rousers…
The antagonist thus far is just doing his job… and I wouldn’t want any of those people in charge of some species critical job or whatever…
I just had to get that off my chest…
Good book good premise… disliking the people though
Edit: oooh it gets really good! I like some of the folks and still dislike a few of the originals… maniacs lol
Finished Blindsight the other day and it was fine. Did it on a recommendation from a friend. I have problems with it but the biggest was, why did Sarasti have to be a vampire? It took me out of the narrative every time they brought it up. Here we have a “hard sci-fi” book and oh yeah there were vampires that humans brought back to life because they were smart.
Since it’s sort of spoilers I won’t go into why it didn’t even matter at the end.
So if you have read the book (and I didn’t and don’t plan on reading the follow up in the series) why did it have to be vampires? Was it just a novelty to get people to buy his book? Cause that’s how it felt.
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