[ExI] Blindsight (SPOILERS)

[Randall Randall]

SPOILERS FOR BLINDSIGHT FOLLOW




On Jul 17, 2007, at 5:17 PM, Lee Corbin wrote:

> I don't remember any of them dwelling for long on the
> initial first-contact communication difficulties.  Oh, I take
> that back:  I got halfway through "Blindsight" (before giving
> up on it), and it went on and on and on and on and on in
> the most mystifying way possible underscoring over and over
> how nonsensical and bizarre the aliens seemed to be.
> That may have been the most irritating feature of the book;
> the ancient technique of substituting obscurity for difficult
> description, which possibly started, I dunno, as far back as
> the thirties?

Actually, all that had a point, and I found it
a really good novel, if emotionally unsatisfying.

The point of the story was that if intelligence
without consciousness is possible, then entities
which are intelligent but not conscious might well
have an advantage over those which are intelligent
but take up valuable time and resources with what
is effectively a busy-loop in between perception
and decision.

At the end of the novel, it's clear that the
protagonist is the last surviving conscious
being in this neck of the woods.

--
Randall Randall <randall at randallsquared.com>
"It's alright, it's alright, 'cause the system never fails;
  The good guys are in power, and the bad guys are in jail."