Blindsight: Peter Watts: 1 (Firefall) Paperback – 19 Oct. 2020

I had this recommended to me after mentioning that one of my favourite sci-fi novels was Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space, I was a bit hesitant about reading Blindsight as I was very dubious it would measure up well after such a claim. It turns out Blindsight is just as good and occupies that same niche of hard sci-fi that also tackles some interesting philosophical subjects.Blindsight manages to do a lot with a small cast and what is basically only two locations for the entire story. The characters all seem outlandish at first, but all serve to show various facets of a burgeoning post-human society and all seem like believable well fleshed-out individuals, which leads to some genuinely compelling moments later in the story when the nature of what they're dealing with becomes evident and the fractures among the crew start to show. The Rorschach object itself also is also genuinely terrifying at times and proves an excellent foil to the protagonists. The only part of the story I wasn't so sold on was the main characters flashbacks that peppered the story, while they served to explain his personality the interactions between him and his ex-lover never seemed as interesting as the events on the Theseus.The novel is essentially a first contact story, but what it really does is explores what it is that makes people human and asks some pretty intriguing and thought provoking questions in the process. I don't want to spoil any part of the novel (it was both educating and entertaining from start to finish) but towards the end of it I did find myself wondering whether humanity is as great as other sci-fi novels paint us to be...

At the dawn of humanity there was a human sub-species which liked to feed off us. A supreme predator, 100 IQ points smarter than us, we drove it to extinction at the onset of agriculture. In the high-tech world of the near tomorrow, there is competitive advantage in using such beings in certain ... leadership roles. And so with paleogenetic engineering, we brought them back. Meanwhile, the AIs have transcended the singularity, baseline humanity is basically useless and those few humans who still have a role are very ... different.The aliens announced their presence with two to the sixteen kinetic missiles which entered the atmosphere on a global grid. No-one was hurt, but the flashbulb was ideal for imaging. The AI-ship Theseus is sent to make first contact. Its crew are altered and its captain a certain top-predator.There is a style of SF writing deriving from pulp detective novels: laconic, dry, matter-of-fact, jokey. Think Richard Morgan or Greg Egan. Peter Watts does dialogue well and he's pretty good at high-tech descriptive writing too. Only occasionally was I conscious that I had not got a good picture of a ship scene, or the relative position of Theseus and the alien artefact.Plot development was also not bad. Contact novels have a problem of tempo: by definition the reader starts -with team-human - in knowing essentially nothing about alien morphology, motivations, capabilities, technologies, intentions. Inevitably, increase in knowledge takes time and the interest-level can sag. Blindsight is not immune from this effect, but there is always enough going on to encourage the reader to persist in the middle section of the book.Watts is both incredibly smart and well-educated. He weaves a lot of advanced concepts into the plot: advanced propulsion technologies, artificial intelligence, nanotech, genetic engineering, neuroscience and consciousness studies. Without introducing plot spoilers, the crux of the novel is centred around the nature and rationale of consciousness itself. Watts has managed to find another, orthogonal dimension of alien difference.Blindsight does not avoid the traditional problems of concept-heavy SF. Towards the end, there are chunks of the novel which are indistinguishable from an article in New Scientist magazine. But Watts manages to keep the story on the rails and delivers a suitably bleak conclusion.It is possible to imagine a further final polishing of this novel which integrated expository material more organically into plot development and produced a more compelling account of the final redemption of the main protagonist, Siri Keeton.I read the whole thing in a few intense hours. I really think, though, that this is a novel it's essential to read twice. It's rare and rewarding to encounter something which has passion and humour behind it, which radiates intelligence and which is happy to assume the reader is educated and smart too. More, please, Mr Watts.

You have to pay attention whilst reading. Almost every page challenges your neurons. Great outline with scientific details is every passage.

I’m only part way through this book, and I’m fairly new to this genre. I’m commenting on the writing style, which is both appealing and annoying at the same time. The author writes in a semi- literary style which is appealing. However, the writing is also laced with techy/nerdy expressions which leave you constantly trying to work out what he must mean. I wonder if I’ll get through the whole book….

I don’t usually read Sci Fi (I experience a plausibility gap) but this is great. It is clever, focusing on a set of related themes – intelligence, its relations to self-awareness, and to empathy, etc – both in discussion and in, for instance, character: in the central protagonist whose surgery makes him irredeemably objective; the vampire who sees others as prey; even the aliens, whose intelligence lacks self-reflectivity. I liked the weird inclusions (like the vampire) which throw the thing off kilter. The author is intelligent and very well read, and it’s just good to read something that is unashamedly smart.There are some negatives. The action is narrowly confined in place, and the range of events is narrow too (both results of the story). I also thought the final reaction to the protagonist was muddled in its ideas. But these are small beer compared to the novel’s positives. Unqualifiedly recommended

First contact with aliens, orbitting a remote planet, while a spaceship AI and a ....vampire(!) both give the crew commands for how to approach. Seems very weird but the author totally makes it work. Imagine that your boss lurking behind you is a predator, while he pushes you past your limits to face the unknown. There are so many facets to this book including philosophy, multiple personalities, great dialogue, interesting and very varied characters. There is also enough hard sci-fi detail to satisfy my cravings, the author clearly did great research. My wife is obsessed with vampires, (I don't care much about them) and read this book many years ago and recommended it to me. I am glad that I finally read it, I heard there is a book 2 to this as well and I have added it to my reading list. Thank you Peter Watts

This is heavy science fiction, and I love it! The thing that grabbed me the most was the science that seemed pulled from current news headlines, which has raised serious moral and ethical questions and fed philosophical curiousity. Neuralink and the transhumanist movement certainly came to mind. Developers are coming up with computer games that offer a deeper immersive experience and scientists learned that the same technology to fix brain malfunctions. This book dives into some wild science, and lots of it is in developement. I loved the bedtime story Siri wrote for his girlfriend.

El libro llegó en excelentes condiciones, sin dobleces o golpes y la entrega fue al día siguiente de pedirlo.

Blindsight is a really interesting dive into the nature of self, intelligence, sentience, and alienness. At first, I thought I wasn’t going to like any of the characters, but eventually they hooked me. The thoughtful insights really made me think, and that is to be treasured.

Too much complicated and repeatative. Dont like much

Produto chegou antes do prazo, perfeito!