February Book Study - Blindsight

I've started, though I'm only fifty pages in so far. I was hooked by the prologue, but what really sold me was the section from the POV of the ship (note to self: have an inanimate object be a POV character in the next thing you write). Still, as much as I'm liking it, I'm also finding it really bleak. Real life hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows lately (more like bills and root canals) so reading a dark sci-fi isn't helping my mood. Still, good writing makes me happy in a way that even the fluffiest subject matter can't, so it's not totally depressing.

Sai said:

Still, as much as I'm liking it, I'm also finding it really bleak. Real life hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows lately (more like bills and root canals) so reading a dark sci-fi isn't helping my mood. Still, good writing makes me happy in a way that even the fluffiest subject matter can't, so it's not totally depressing.

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Okay, I've read the whole thing, and I found the writing to be not that great, B-grade, sought of try-hard, frantic, way too many obscure scientific terms, too many oh-so-cool metephors splashed about, and at times I was lost not knowing what was going on. I guess you could say I did not like the writing style, and thought it could have used some refinement, and an editor who believed in the less-is-more approach. The story itself was riveting, but the writing detracted from it in my opinion.

The bleakness worked for me, probably because of the over-abundance of sci-fi on TV that is not bleak, when really it logically should be (I'm thinking of all sci-fi TV series of the past decades just about).

Overall, the book is definitely worth reading, if you're into sci-fi. There are a lot of big ideas in this book (too many, I think, for one book to do each justice), and they're all dealt with in a ruthlessly logical and honest way. To name a few:
- Where are the aliens? The universe is 14 billion years old, so why haven't they knocked on our door yet? Why can't we even spy activity through our telescopes?
- If they're out there, they are most likely hostile (Darwinism). 'Technology implies belligerence' (pg 62). Quote: 'Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above him when he shows no mercy to what is under him?' ~Pierre Troubetzkoy (pg 214).
- Intelligence vs Sentience (pg 323). The book argues (convincingly?) you do not need self-awareness to travel to the stars (pg 253). Consciousness is a virus! (pg 273). The idea that consciousness is a hindrance to survival. 'Aesthetics. Sentience. Extinction.' (pg 326). 'Brains are survival engines, not truth detectors' (pg 242).
- The brain and its capabilities and weaknesses (pg 312).
- Artificial intelligence. The Chinese Room (pg 94).
- Virtual reality.
- Language as a limiting factor, that perhaps we humans would benefit by evolving to something more direct (pg 68)

The vampire thing, I thought, was just another aspect thrown onto the heap that the book didn't really need. It worked fine, but, sheesh...

I would have liked a schematic of the ship, seeing as the author was not above inserting the Necker cube diagram.

The story itself wasn't the highlight for me because it's definitely not original (see books listed below). The highlight were the ideas. This book has really got me thinking. In particular I think I will be reading up on Darwinism: Blindsight paints a bleak picture of the universe and our place in it. The author is basically saying that if we meet aliens they will most likely be more advanced than us (likely IMO), and 'technology implies belligerence' (pg 62), so we're screwed. One of the reviews on Amazon mentioned that Darwinism is not about the strong obliterating the weak, it's about species adaption (not direct confrontation). So, my interest in the details of Darwinism is piqued, because I don't want to believe that we're all screwed!

And then there's the Intelligence vs Sentience idea. The idea that sentience is in fact a hindrance to species survival is confronting to say the least, and extremely thought provoking; probably more so than musing on the nature of hypothetical aliens. This is all about exploring our identity - who are we, where do we fit into the greater scheme of the universe.

With the interest in extra-solar planets picking up of late (as I write this I see another news report on extra-solar planet discoveries - Kepler 11 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12333766; 525 discovered to date - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrasolar_planet) the book and its ideas is timely and worthy of discussion.

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Blindsight's literary precursors, that in my opinion are better written at least:
Arthur C Clarke - Rendevous With Rama (1972)
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - The Mote in God's Eye (1974)

If anyone knows of others, please post them, as this book has whet my appetite.

Awhoogah, finally a book I've read recently! Yes, as the posters say, Watt's future here is dark. Lugubriously so. So dark you should feel vaguely dirty for enjoying reading about it as much as I did.

And Watts approaches the gloomy scenario he's carved out here with unremitting cheer, I think. Not cheer in the fates of the characters, or of humanity, but cheer in subjecting the reader to sleepless nights of worrying about his conclusion (Spoilers: sentience, empathy, and joy are accidents, evolutionary dead ends that will die along with H. sapiens). Peter Watts is gother than goth and wants you to feel his pain.

I agree with b1_ that this is a capital-I Ideas book. The man is smart and it comes through in his writing. The "crucifix glitch" is one of the cleverest "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" inventions I've encountered as an offhand idea in SF. Del Toro et al. should have taken biology lessons from Peter Watts before they wrote their quasi-sci-fi vampire series.

The writing isn't particularly brain-watering, though he does on occasion wander into experimentalese passages of second person. It's mostly solid SF thriller writing and won't strain you too hard if you've a modicum of science literacy or at least an appreciation for Big Ideas. Don't expect Lem or Vonnegut. Watts could probably take on Ellison in a grimmer-than-thou slapfight, without perhaps writing as well.

b1_, Alistair Reynolds is prolific, slightly (so slightly) brighter in tone than Watts, and has written some good tales about sinister deep space objects. Check out the short story Nightingale.

The Big Ideas of this book particulary the idea that sentience is really useless blew me out of the water when I read it a few years ago. I remember a few comments from a nature documentary I saw once. One was along the lines of intelligence has nothing to do with the success or viability of a species. Sharks, turtles, bacteria- the most successful life forms on earth are not those which are intelligent. And the second comment from another show was that in nature agression totally serves a purpose.

The vampires are awesome! Sorry, I thought they were super cool! But I am a vampire junkie so seeing an amazing and perfectly logical scietific explanaiton to vampires was great. AND they weren't hot brooding love interests but sociopaths.

Here is a link to at leat a 'picture' of Theseus http://www.rifters.com/blindsight/theseus.htm

All of Watt's books are as depressing if not MORE depressing than Blindsight. They are all bleak and hopeless.

Oh- And he's working on a novel about the vampire taking over Earth I just wish he'd hurry up and finish.

uhm.... is this the third of a trilogy?

Am I gonna be lost?

bettielee said:

uhm.... is this the third of a trilogy?

Am I gonna be lost?

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No, it's the first book. Rifters is the trilogy he wrote. Blindsight is a stand alone- thus far.

bitchin' - thanks.

yeah, may not be the third of a trilogy but I am often lost.

However, I only meant to read the first chapter to test the waters and got thru about 1/3 of it, per Kindle

Let's see. I hope humanity never makes it to this future (of what I've read so far). Very frickin' bleak. There's a lot of sitting around talking about theoretical.... sentience and science and whatnot. However, his style is pretty good, considering much of this is beyond me. A lot of this theoretical stuff is passed on via the narrator eavesdropping - which seems a strange behavior for this particular character.

I hate reading books that make me feel stupid. So much of this is the characters sitting around talking... philosophical theoretical scientifical... stuff. It's mostly beyond me. It's gone from interesting to preachy. Or maybe I'm just defensive because these philosphical meanderings are beyond me.

I am enjoying the subplot of the girlfriend. I'm up to the 3/4 point.

I think I'm gonna read 101 Dalmations next. The novel. Right up my alley.

I loved this book. For me it was perfect. Although I do enjoy stories about puppydogs and lollipops and rainbows, I actually didn't find Blindsight that bleak! It's more of taking a detached scientist's view of our own biology. Do I agree? Not entirely, but it is interesting. I love the stuff about the different weird brain problems all the characters have (how great for conflict that it's a spaceship full of people with mental problems!) and the utter alienness of the aliens. Love love love! His ideas are so distinct and intriguing that I remember them very precisely years after reading it.

I tried to read the Rifter's trilogy--the first book is interesting, crazy scientists living really far underwater. The second book one of them comes ashore and I found it uninteresting. If he wrote another book set in the Blindsight universe I would be all over it!

Kitty Pryde said:

I loved this book. For me it was perfect. Although I do enjoy stories about puppydogs and lollipops and rainbows, I actually didn't find Blindsight that bleak! It's more of taking a detached scientist's view of our own biology. Do I agree? Not entirely, but it is interesting. I love the stuff about the different weird brain problems all the characters have (how great for conflict that it's a spaceship full of people with mental problems!) and the utter alienness of the aliens. Love love love! His ideas are so distinct and intriguing that I remember them very precisely years after reading it.

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I give him props for that... except I can't remember what I've read about a minute after I've read it.

I haven't started this yet, as the present book I'm reading plus another one (Tricia Sullivan's Lightborn) almost certainly will have to go back to the library by the 23rd.

ok. not sure what happened exactly, but I finished the book. I actually enjoyed the notes at the end - they were many and numerous, and I actually checked out one or two links on some of the maladies he mentioned in the book.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book - and that's not a bad thing. I still think the majority of it was beyond me. I just couldn't grasp the huge concepts he threw around like dandelion fluff. And much of the book was characters sitting around wrangling philosophical and theoretical analogies... many of which mah little brains couldn't wrap themselves around.

So there is my confession of stupidity.

I would like to hold this book up for people who think sci fi isn't about human beings and the human condition. But a little dry for my taste.

When I firstchecked Blindsight out from the library a couple year ago I read it twice before it had to go back because I didn't get it in the first pass either. But it made more sense the second time around.

And yes, you have to love a good info dump to get through this novel

Fenika- I recommend skipping to the last few chapters where all the action is.

I haven't gotten Blindsight, yet, but I'll pick it up this week and have comments before month's end.

And, hello, everyone, I'm back on line following the move.

Peter Watts is currently recovering from flesh-eating disease....

http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=1831

That explains why the second Blindsight book is taking forever! He also almost went to jail...

OK, CheG, we need a link for that, too....

Link fun
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/27/sci-fi-author-peter-watts_n_553549.html

http://file770.com/?p=3701

http://www.locusmag.com/News/2010/04/peter-watts-sentenced-no-jail-time/

And for extra fun I am posting links to the Blindsight fanart I did when I first read the book. I actually sent them to Peter Watt and he liked them all, except Jukka. In my brain Jukka is a hot anime villian. Not so much in Mr. Watt's mind. LOL!

Susan James http://spiderliing666.deviantart.com/gallery/25609943#/d13zafi
Robert Cunningham http://spiderliing666.deviantart.com/gallery/25609943#/d13za9d
Amanda Bates http://spiderliing666.deviantart.com/gallery/25609943#/d13z9yn
Jukka version 1 http://spiderliing666.deviantart.com/gallery/25609943#/d13zaqr
Jukka version 2 http://spiderliing666.deviantart.com/gallery/25609943#/d1459vi

Scrambler Funnies 1 http://spiderliing666.deviantart.com/gallery/25609943#/d158w3i
Scrambler Funnies 2 http://spiderliing666.deviantart.com/gallery/25609943#/d158vyt

Also note that my drawings of scramblers are woefully undetailed because I took one look at the mock-up Watt's sent me and said hell no. Each arm should be a spiky spinal column and the boddies are more like interlocking teeth.

ALSO the scrambler funnies are funny only if you made it to the end of the book.

oh my gosh, those are cool! I wish I could draw! I like the Jukka one - I admit, my image of him was way more grim.

And thanks for the infos!

Just read this for a second time, actually. I enjoy the story mainly because of the various perspectives it makes you try and wrap your head around. I'm a geek for old ideas reworked into new presentations, so the sci-fi reimagining of vampires was fun, the self-induced multiple personalities...Yes, it's bleak and such, but the variety of intriguing ideas throughout made it fun for me.

I started it today - I'm about a quarter of the way through.