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A review by ravenbait
Blindsight by Peter Watts
3.0
"Blindsight" was mentioned during a crit round as being an excellent example of how neuro-atypical characters can be used properly, as opposed to the standard psychopath = killer scenario, and that immediately made me want to read it.
Without giving too much of the plot away, incontrovertible evidence of alien contact sparks a rush-job to get people out into space on a fact-finding/diplomatic mission. The people chosen for this are not typical diplomats. There is a human Chinese Room, a woman who is more machine than human, a man who's wired into his scientific instruments so thoroughly that his body language is wrong, a linguist who has induced MPD, the ship's AI and a vampire. All of this is set in a future where Heaven is a virtual world into which people can be uploaded.
Watts packs in the science. The only book I've read that was more dense than this one was "The Washing of the Spears". My level of scientific knowledge is enough that each assertion gave me pause as I tried to work out whether it was plausible/possible. There is very little in this book that relies on standard genre tropes, for which Watts is to be commended. Unfortunately I found that the sheer quantity of scientific ideas within the book got in the way of character development to a degree, and this is a book I would have to read again to get full enjoyment from it (at which point I think I would give it a higher rating). In a way I wish I didn't have the hard science background, so I could just enjoy the story instead of being sucked into examining the plot details, but that's just me.
Because the concepts and ideas in this story are, in places, stunning. Ultimately this is a book about whether self-awareness, the thing that historically we have said sets us apart, is even a good thing. If the universal constant for life is survival, then self-awareness --that "I" who has hopes, dreams, ambitions, desires, regrets and a strong sense of mortality, and who gets in the way of critical decision making-- might be viewed as a disease.
Hard science fiction fans will lap this up.
Without giving too much of the plot away, incontrovertible evidence of alien contact sparks a rush-job to get people out into space on a fact-finding/diplomatic mission. The people chosen for this are not typical diplomats. There is a human Chinese Room, a woman who is more machine than human, a man who's wired into his scientific instruments so thoroughly that his body language is wrong, a linguist who has induced MPD, the ship's AI and a vampire. All of this is set in a future where Heaven is a virtual world into which people can be uploaded.
Watts packs in the science. The only book I've read that was more dense than this one was "The Washing of the Spears". My level of scientific knowledge is enough that each assertion gave me pause as I tried to work out whether it was plausible/possible. There is very little in this book that relies on standard genre tropes, for which Watts is to be commended. Unfortunately I found that the sheer quantity of scientific ideas within the book got in the way of character development to a degree, and this is a book I would have to read again to get full enjoyment from it (at which point I think I would give it a higher rating). In a way I wish I didn't have the hard science background, so I could just enjoy the story instead of being sucked into examining the plot details, but that's just me.
Because the concepts and ideas in this story are, in places, stunning. Ultimately this is a book about whether self-awareness, the thing that historically we have said sets us apart, is even a good thing. If the universal constant for life is survival, then self-awareness --that "I" who has hopes, dreams, ambitions, desires, regrets and a strong sense of mortality, and who gets in the way of critical decision making-- might be viewed as a disease.
Hard science fiction fans will lap this up.