Blindsight

Actually blindsight was one of the top contenders for my next read! I will definitely give it a shot.

I read all three of these in the last 12 months, great choices. Have you read Blindsight? I felt it was almost a sci fi/horror mix. Great read

I am currently halfway through "Blindsight" by Peter Watts. It's a tough read but easily the most thought provoking take on consciousness and first contact i have encountered in years.

Loved it too! Try echopraxia next.

I have a couple I would highly recommend: The first is Stanislaw Lem's "Imaginary Magnitude." Most stories there are written as sort of prefaces to non-existent technical/scientific books, papers, articles, etc. The last one, Golem XIV, goes a bit beyond and includes an entire lecture. The content is incredibly detailed and technical, Lem knew his Technology and Science for sure, so sometimes it's incredibly accurate and prophetic. Even though it was written in the 1970's, Lem was already describing things that look uncannily like neural networks, emergent communication systems, and machine-generated literature, decades before they existed. And... most of them are also really really funny. Here are small summaries that ChatGPT helped me write for some of the stories there: ---- Eruntics ---- A faux-scientific introduction to a field studying “erunts”: biological (or semi-biological) agents, think bacteria/neural colonies, that can learn to read, write, and communicate. These bacterial colonies learn to communicate through several learning iterations across many mutations and generations, much like, say, Neural Networks, and they even develop their own proto-language as they evolve.…

I caught up with some science fiction this year. The Murderbot diaries books by Martha Wells - 6/10. Mixed on these. They're fun to read. The setting is cool and the worldbuilding is shallow but effective (i.e., don't read it if you want game of thrones in space). Each novella takes an afternoon to read. I think "snarky violent droid" is overcooked these days and lost interest after book 5. Light by M. John Harrison - 7/10 excellent prose; great multiple-storyline plot; the journey was better than the destination, but it kept me thinking Far from the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson - 7/10 Fun. If "near future Nigerian/British post-colonial frontier action with guns, robots, and psychic aliens" sounds cool to you, check it out. I liked his Rosewater Trilogy just as much. Blindsight and Echopraxia by Peter Watts - tough to rate these. brilliant ideas, VERY challenging plots. I wish I didn't get so confused by the end of each book.…

Blindsight by Peter Watts. It has some silliness but the principal idea was brilliant and has really stayed with me: the idea that self awareness might be an aberration and alien life could be intelligent without it. In particular, the idea that we attacked first by broadcasting our nonsense, purposefully wasting the processing capacity of other intelligences.

Three more thumbs up for Blind Sight. Gripping story but also puts forward some interesting questions on nature of consciousness and reality (but not in a woozy spiritual way; basically - what happens to your senses and thoughts when subjected to a massive and changing magnetic field?). Not quite Phillip K Dick as far as unreliable narrator goes, but it's cool once you start questioning the perspectives and observations :)

I really like Blindsight for how some of the questions it sets may apply to how we might face artificial general intelligence.

Blindsight and Echopraxia by Peter Watts [1] I enjoyed the ideas in these books. The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again [2] by M. John Harrison. Beautiful writing. His descriptions give me vivid dreams if I read before bed. The Thursday Murder Club [3] by Richard Osman. Light reading, amusing, beginning of a series. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echopraxia_%28novel%29 [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49201192-the-sunken-land... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49201192-the-sunken-land-begins-to-rise-again) [3] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54846475-the-thursday-mu... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54846475-the-thursday-murder-club)

Fair warning, I only liked the first part of Seveneves; I thought the second part was stupid. You'll get a lot of recommendations for Liu Cixin's "Three Body Problem" which I personally hate (though the first part of the first book is very well written), but if you like all of Seveneves then it might suit you. My personal favourites that might not already be on everyone else's lists: Fiasco - Stanisław Lem This is how you lose the time war - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Feersum Endjinn - Iain Banks The Dark Side of the Sun - Terry Pratchett (yes, that one) Blindsight - Peter Watts Bloom - Wil McCarthy Good luck!

I loved this book, but I only recommend it if you’re reading on a Kindle or similar. There was so much jargon and technical words that I had to look up the definitions of.

Blindsight by Peter Watts. Not exactly answering questions on what AIs would do but: to spoil as little as possible: there is an alien ship that communicates with humanity in a way that is eerily parallel and similar to today's LLMs. It's a pretty tough read though, I had hard time understanding what is happening exactly. Might be one of the books where it might be a good idea to spoil a bit how the narrative works. Maybe just reading to top tagline on TvTropes page doesn't spoil too much: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Blindsight Also you can read it online easily: https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm Edit: this novel apparently has been on HN frontpage once https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18378221

It's also free to read online: https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm This is definitely a book that stuck with me over the years. The concepts were very foreign and unusual at the time I read it, and I still find them novel to think about. Definitely in my top five recommendations for sci-fi reading.

I couldn't tell whether you were joking about pirating it, but for others who might be interested, the author has made it available for free download from his website [1]. I love Blindsight as well, and I think I like the other book in the series, Echopraxia (not available for free download though) even more. Both books contain lengthy bibliographies citing various scientific papers the author has drawn ideas from, and on my first readings of both books I ended up spending as much time chasing down interesting references and reading them as I did reading the original books. [1] https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

Neuromancer Snow Crash Blindsight (Just some fun fiction to bolster one's passion for their chosen profession. Obviously TAOCP, SICP, K&R, and other books in their ranks are better answers.)

Of his catalogue, I like Blindsight best probably, it's one of those fundamental science fiction novels that asks a new question and stays with you for a long time, without being too cerebral.

Love Peter Watts' work but be warned that his writing is super depressing (in a good way), specially his Rifters Trilogy. My favorites are still Blindsight and it's follow-up, Echopraxia. The ideas on those books about sentient life are eye opening and something I still think is heavily debated in the scientific community.

Blindsight by Peter Watts, it's available for free [1] (CC-License on his website), he releases all his books like that, except for the most recent one, which is only available through publishers. You can also download it on the site as epub or PDF. Edit: Also, it's one of the few Sci-Fi books I know (all from Watts) that cites scientific literature and has a bibliography, to make an argument for plausability and give explanations in an afterword. Watts worked as a marine biologist before writing scifi, IIRC. [1] https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

I enjoyed Blindsight by Peter Watts. It explores several different interesting ideas. For instance, what is the point of empathy/friendship/love in a technologically advanced society? These were very useful things for our ancestors to help each other battle the harsh environment, but we have mastered our environment, so why waste brain power on empathy now? The Wikipedia summarizes the books discussion of conciousness very well: "The novel raises questions about the essential character of consciousness. Is the interior experience of consciousness necessary, or is externally observed behavior the sole determining characteristic of conscious experience? Is an interior emotional experience necessary for empathy, or is empathic behavior sufficient to possess empathy?

Blindsight from Peter Watts

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Blindsight yet. Awesome scifi book, it will blow your mind.

Someone posted this on a previous book list and I read it and I'm so glad I did, now I've read Echopraxia, and I've bought all his other books and I'm on those as well, totally awesome. I still think about this series and the vampires and hive minds.

"Blindsight" by Peter Watts "Solaris" and "Summa Technologiae" by Stanislav Lem "Dune" by Frank Herbert "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson

OP said "fun, lighthearted and enjoyable". Noted reviewer James Nicoll on Peter Watts: "When­ever I find my will to live be­com­ing too strong, I read Peter Watts." Which Dr. Watts put at the top of his About the Author page. Watts is really, really good. And really, really bleak.

Blindsight by Peter Watts https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight_%28Watts_novel%29

Blindsight, by Peter Watts. It's a sci-fi novel that asks fascinating questions about sentience and intelligence, and made me stare at the ceiling for weeks after I finished it.

Some stuff is hand waved. However, the amount of incredible facts about human condition and precaution is incredible and very much core to the story. The back of the book is packed with references to actual research work. It took me a long time though to get myself to buy the book because the book description on Amazon is the worst and sounds like a awful B-movie.

I would say Blindsight is nearly completely about AI. I advise a re-read. Vampires are not really monsters... Just puppets...

Watts’ Blindsight and Echopraxia are excellent hard scifi too, though less focused on AI.

Blindsight (Peter Watts) - read it some time in university and it has completely changed how I think about things. Figuratively speaking turned my mind inside out.

Fiction: Peter Watts - Blindsight Nonfiction: Gödel Escher Bach CS: David West - Object Thinking

- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin - Blindsight and Echopraxia by Peter Watts - The Tao Te Ching - The Gateless Gate (Koun Yamada translation/editing) - The Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World) by Neal Stephenson - The Invisibles by Grant Morrison - Incerto (Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, Antifragile, The Bed of Procrustes) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb - Iron John by Robert Bly - Catch 22 by Joseph Heller - The Character of Physical Law by Richard P. Feynman - Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges - 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Pharmakon by Dale Pendell - The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss - Greek Mythology by Edith Hamilton - The Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual by Gary Gygax et al - Introduction to Algorithms by Charles E. Leiserson, Clifford Stein, Ronald Rivest, and Thomas H. Cormen

It seems that everybody has been recommending sci fi and fantasy... Well, so will I. - The Lies of Locke Lamora: fantasy (think fantastic Renaissance Venice), fairly light read, very well written, great characters. - Accelerando: from our own cstross. Postuhumanist episodic scifi, pretty much a required read for the average HN reader. - The Book of the New Sun: fantasy (or is it?), On the surface episodic adventures of an executioner, but it is built on multiple layers. Not an easy read, but masterfully written. Might require multiple reads. Long series. - Blindsight, bleak diamond hard scifi, about first contact, consciousness and life. Not an easy read, but strongly recommended.

This is a little more Lovecraftian Horror than science fiction, but I loved Matt Ruff's "Lovecraft Country". Equal parts what you'd expect, with an exploration of how shitty America was for black people in the 1950s. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25109947-lovecraft-count... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25109947-lovecraft-country) Ted Chiang's "Stories of your Life" have been recommended here a bunch, since Arrival was based on one of the stories in the collection. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223380.Stories_of_Your_L... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223380.Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Others) Peter Watts' Blindsight and Echopraxia are both excellent explorations of the human mind and consciousness. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48484.Blindsight and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18490708-echopraxia Bonus: Echopraxia comes with an optional audiovisual component that stands alone quite well: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30ED0756E00786E2 And don't let the mention of Vampires scare you off; this isn't a Twilight wannabe, and it's very likely not a take on Vampires you've seen before.

> Blindsight is on my Kobo right now, but after reading Permutation City I'm scared to start reading it because I don't want to reach halfway and want to chuck it like I did Permutation City. I read Blindsight before Permutation City. The way he describes the situations and the way his characters are often extremely confusing. But you get used to it at some point along the way. The story line itself and the Aliens are somewhat off the left field which makes the story very interesting. I personally liked it. Permutation City is, on the other hand, simply boring as hell. Drier than ye olde Abstract Algebra textbook.

I read quite a few others that have been mentioned here, but I finally read two that hard sci-fi books that should appeal to the Hacker News crowd Permutation City: People can run simulations of themselves or entirely migrate their consciousness into computer programs, but existence is often limited to the amount of computation that you can afford, leading to slow existences that stretch time into fractions of realtime. That premise had me hooked, but the book has fantastic thought provoking plot points throughout. Highly recommended. http://www.amazon.com/Permutation-City-Novel-Greg-Egan/dp/15... (http://www.amazon.com/Permutation-City-Novel-Greg-Egan/dp/1597805394) Blindsight: Amazing first alien encounter book that should be read by everyone that is a fan of the genre. Memorable cast of characters...the Vampires are really interesting. All kinds of introductory scientific concepts throughout. Entertaining and educational. http://www.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/0765319640/r... (http://www.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/0765319640/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1450882718&sr=1-1&keywords=blindsite)

I was about to add Blindsight to my own list, but you beat me to it. I think it's the best book with the worst synopsis on the jacket.

I can't choose one, but I'd cite: * Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind, for explaining so much personally and culturally so concisely. * Everything on this list: http://jakeseliger.com/2010/03/22/influential-books-on-me-th... (http://jakeseliger.com/2010/03/22/influential-books-on-me-that-is). * The Lord of the Rings, for its combination of story, interior drama, and (underrated) political economy. * Blindsight by Peter Watts. * Heart of Darkness by Conrad, who seems more prophetic all the time.

Peter Watts's Blindsight - easily the best SF novel I've read in the last decade. I haven't got round to Echopraxia yet, but I doubt it'll fail to live up to its predecessor. Also, while I have no use whatsoever for Stross's "Singularity" stuff, his Laundry Files series excels, especially for an inveterate old Lovecraft fan such as myself. If you want a taste, there are some shorts available online -- "Overtime" and "Funny Farm" are good places to start; "Equoid" is the most recent, but it's not representative, and it's also the weakest entry in the series as a whole due to its poor characterization and reliance on shock and gruesomeness rather than the more insidious sort of horror in which the rest of the series specializes.…

Greg Egan - Permutation City Peter Watts - Blindsight

Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's a masterpiece of hard SciFi, but not for the faint of heart. It will mess with your mind, on top of the generally scary subject matter.

Great question, and one that I asked just before going to Mozambique for 10 weeks a few years back. I'd just bought a kindle, which were not available outside the USA back then, and asked a few interesting folks I was chatting to at Foo. Here are my resulting first few kindle purchases: The Match King Heros Die (I bought the rest of them) The city and the city Every patient tells a story Blindsight Born to Run Hot, Flat & Crowded The Autobiography of Ben Franklin The Hunger Games (!) And on it went - asking for recommendations was a fantastic thing to do. I'd asked for fiction as I was going there to work and would be too exhausted at first to do much else. So I do encourage everyone to give some names of books. And yes - do take a good camera, do take binoculars - Leica if you can afford them, and embrace the experience. A few years later I went to Antarctica on a boat for 30 days offline. By then I had hundreds of books on kindle, and several devices to read them. This is basically a solved problem now. I did take Wikipedia in offline state, which was useful.…

Blindsight, by Peter Watts. One of the better sci-fi novels I've read in awhile. Reminds me a lot of Arthur C. Clark in that it successfully strikes a really hard balance between scientific accuracy/feasibility and imaginative storytelling.

I just devoured Blindsight by Peter Watts[1]. It's a fascinating bit of SF that explores some really fascinating ideas about how consciousness works. I've also been dipping into Daily Rituals: How Artists Work[2]. Lots of brief summaries of how various famous creators have broken up their workday; it both inspires me to get off my ass, and makes me feel better about the days when absolutely nothing happens. Oh, and I've been slowly picking at Thee Psychick Bible[3], a collection of the majgickal documents of Genesis P-Orridge. Not sure it's really got any ideas I haven't seen in my other mystical readings. But there sure is a lot of it. 1: http://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm 2: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009Y4I4OM/ref=oh_aui_d_det... (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009Y4I4OM/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o02_?ie=UTF8&psc=1) 3: http://www.amazon.com/THEE-PSYCHICK-BIBLE-Apocryphal-Scriptu... (http://www.amazon.com/THEE-PSYCHICK-BIBLE-Apocryphal-Scriptures/dp/1932595902)

Peter Watts is excellent. Blindsight and the Rifters trilogy are both fun hard sci-fi bent reads

Because no one has mentioned it yet: 'Blindsight' by Peter Watts.

I bought that book to support him after his shitty customs experience. Turned out to be one of the greatest novels I've ever read. Totally fascinating.

Massive recommendation for 'Blindsight' by Peter Watts, if you want your mind blown. And the author has made it available for free! http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

I really loved Blindsight. It set me off reading reading a bunch of non-fiction about the mind (e.g., Hofstader' I Am A Strange Loop) The first Rifter book was pretty good, but in the 2nd he really let loose with anti-capitalist themes to the point where I couldn't stand it anymore.

I also liked most of those. I'm just reading Blindsight, wonderful. The only one I hated was "Market forces" by Morgan. It felt like reading "The Pilgrim's Progress", but with Chomsky as Jesus -- a little bit too heavy handed in political propaganda. For that kind of stuff done in a fascinating way, check Ken MacLeod's "The Stone Canal" and following. (Asher got a little too much of Space Opera for me, in the end.) For sf, I'd add Greg Egan (Stross has been mentioned multiple times). I'd also like to recommend the worst author I used to buy books in hardcover from -- Robert L Forward. The guy couldn't have written a believable character to save his life, but he had some cool physics ideas. RIP. For fantasy, which I didn't see mentioned, I'd add Scott Lynch, most stuff by Jack Vance, the black company series (Glen Cook), Joe Abercrombie and Vlad Taltos (Brust). Dawkins' Selfish Gene has been mentioned. Steven Pinker was interesting. Edit: Re Schoeder, I've heard good things but not read anything yet. Thanks for advice and kick to start.

I'm a big fan of Sci-Fi because I feel it makes people think about what they want the future to be, as well as avoiding the re-hashing of historical and current events that many fiction books set in the present do. With that in mind a list of great books to read: The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson Gridlinked - Neal Asher Neuromancer - William Gibson The Reality Dysfunction - Peter F. Hamilton The Dreaming Void - Peter F. Hamilton Fallen Dragon - Peter F. Hamilton Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan Market Forces - Richard Morgan Blindsight - Peter Watts The Electric Church - Jeff Somers Tunnel in the Sky - Robert A. Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein 1984 - George Orwell