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“Jesus, Siri. People aren’t rational. You aren’t rational. We’re not thinking machines, we’re– we’re feeling machines that happen to think.” (231-232). Reading Young Park’s blogpost (which can be read here: http://samplereality.com/gmu/451/author/youngpark/) about consciousness being “costly and inefficient” brought my mind … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I was surprised to find vampires in Blindsight. Watt’s writing is so scientific that there doesn’t seem to be room for human myths and old impossible fears. When I first started reading, I kept thinking that vampire had to be a term, or a creation, not that Watts was saying Vampires had actually once existed. […] Continue reading →

As I conclude my reading of Blindsight by Peter Watts, my thoughts continually reflect back to the lines “Life isn’t either/or.  It’s a matter of degree.” (250) spoken by Robert Cunningham to Siri Keeton.  Their specific discussion involves a debate about whether the scrambler creatures from Rorschach should be considered alive in the absence of […] Continue reading →

“There was a model of the world, and we didn’t look outward at all; our conscious selves saw only the simulation in our heads, an interpretation of reality, endlessly refreshed by input from the senses.” (193) Reading through the density … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Sometimes electrical stimulation of the brain induces “alien hand syndrome”– the involuntary movement of the body against the will of the “person” allegedly in control. Other times it provokes equally involuntary movements, which subjects nonetheless insist they “chose” to perform despite overwhelming empirical evidence to the contrary. Blindsight by Peter Watts, Charybdis I choose the […] Continue reading →

 ”That’s evolution for you; one stupid linked mutation and the whole natural order falls apart, intelligence and self-awareness stuck in counterproductive lock-step for half a million years.” – Page 362 –      As I finished the book, this line … Continue reading → Continue reading →

      This sentence comes during Siri’s first contact with Sarasti since he was brutally attacked by the vampire. It is significant to the novel in that this is the reader’s first glimpse into the inner-workings of the vampire’s mind. Up until this point, Siri has merely alluded to the sadistic nature of Sarasti’s psyche with […] Continue reading →

“I’m a Synthesist.” He knew that. Of course he knew, everyone did: You can’t observe the system unless you stay outside the system. “On Earth you’re a Synthesist,” he said. “In the Kuiper you’re a Synthesist. Here you’re mass. Do what … Continue reading → Continue reading →

“Because I don’t know if there is such a thing as a reliable narrator.” Pg. 362 Blindsight is a striking novel for many reasons, but one of them in the main character, the narrator. His entire job aboard the ship is to act as a synthesist, which seems to be a glorified Captain’s Log of […] Continue reading →

“And then I wonder what it would be like to feel nothing at all, to be utterly rational….” (Blindsight, pg. …

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