[pecenipicek]

Spoiler:

I loved the book up to the point after the capture of the 2 "starfishies". Afterwards it kinda fell lower and lower. And i loved stuff up to that point because it gave a ****ton of stuff to think about. However, after that, it all kinda went downhill and into what basicallly amounts to "sentience is bad, mmkay?" and the fact that our dear lone survivor of the whole incident is probably the last "wise man" left by the time he's about to reach our blue marble.

uphill bro, uphill (and it was really chillingly well-thought-out, it wasn't a didactic or a prescription like you make it out to be, it was more like a fearful rumination)

i'm just saying the way the latter part came out to me.

however, it is definitely a great read


but the ending is not truly a happy one. very bleak prospects.

[mxlm]

Yeah, Blindsight was ****ing fantastic. No idea why I haven't gotten around to reading his other stuff yet (Rifters is meant to be pretty great, at a minimum).

Also, saccades are hilarious.

Also also, what exactly do you regard as the punch line, Batman? It's been a while. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post it in spoiler tags.

[Flipside]

Entropy always wins

[Luis Dias]

Meh, full blown cynicism towards man. First thing that went through my head, picard's speech against Q, quoting shakespeare. You kwow what I'm talking about.

So yeah, we are so "full of ourselves", and "free will doesn't exist", etc., bla bla bla. What's your ****ing point? That all is meaningless? That nihilism is true? That we are unimportant? And please inform us how on earth is this some "deep novel ****". The only thing I read is someone pissed off at someone else's attitude, and using words to bring him down. I'd calmly answer "**** you too, dip****, I don't need your poison".

[Scotty]

You need to calm down.  It's a discussion about a book, not an attack on whatever your personal beliefs are.

EDIT:  Though I notice you're quick to decry and swear violently at the perceived "attack," while you have no compunctions about legitimately attack others' beliefs.  Might want to think on that.

[Luis Dias]

You need to calm down.  It's a discussion about a book, not an attack on whatever your personal beliefs are.

EDIT:  Though I notice you're quick to decry and swear violently at the perceived "attack," while you have no compunctions about legitimately attack others' beliefs.  Might want to think on that.

hm wot?

I'm merely saying that the gist of the OP's quote isn't that good. I'm reading the novel right now to see if I missed something contextual. It apparently has vampires as a SF concept. So I like it already (I like things that don't take themselves seriously).

[Scotty]

Sorry, multiple instances of profanity plus a generally caustic tone made it look like you were royally pissed off.

I still stand by my edit.

Although thinking this novel doesn't take itself seriously solely because it has vampires as a SF concept is... ill-advised.

[Luis Dias]

Although thinking this novel doesn't take itself seriously solely because it has vampires as a SF concept is... ill-advised.

I have to judge with all the information I got. I started just now, it's the only thing in it that made me chuckle. Please give me a break?

[pecenipicek]

Although thinking this novel doesn't take itself seriously solely because it has vampires as a SF concept is... ill-advised.

I have to judge with all the information I got. I started just now, it's the only thing in it that made me chuckle. Please give me a break?

Its not really supposed to give you a chuckle. And no, no break. You started spewing **** from your mouth without reading the whole damn thing.

Do it. Only then are you qualified to speak.

[NGTM-1R]

Sorry, multiple instances of profanity plus a generally caustic tone made it look like you were royally pissed off.

Perhaps he is. I daresay he probably ought to be. You're missing the why, however. While interesting reading, in a lot of ways it's like reading Hemmingway. Sure, Papa can write like nobody's business but what he's actually writing is antithetical to any sort of activity, and doubly so to one such as literature. It's annoying, and you sort of wonder he bothered.

[mxlm]

It's annoying, and you sort of wonder he bothered.

I can think of a few reasons. Bakker's made it his mission to present this sort of argument to the masses--although I'm not sure fat fantasy novels are really the correct medium for popularizing any argument, but nevermind.

[LHN91]

I swear I've read this somewhere before, but can't think for the life of me when or where. The more I read it the more I recognize. Gah it's going to bother me until I figure it out.

[IronBeer]

Finally got through it. Spent pretty much all of today reading it. Definitely going to be haunted for a while.

[General Battuta]

I'm merely saying that the gist of the OP's quote isn't that good.

I'm sorry it frightened you.

I'm reading the novel right now to see if I missed something contextual. It apparently has vampires as a SF concept. So I like it already (I like things that don't take themselves seriously).

The vampires are completely serious, played totally straight and hard, and a critical part of the book's thesis.

But yeah, if you're easily scared by the cold vastness of the universe and by the ramifications of some branchings of game theory, it will not go well.

It's annoying, and you sort of wonder he bothered.

I can think of a few reasons. Bakker's made it his mission to present this sort of argument to the masses--although I'm not sure fat fantasy novels are really the correct medium for popularizing any argument, but nevermind.

Bakker ****ing rocks, amazing mother****er, but Neuropath was a total failure, a dud, an abortion. He better stick to the fat fantasy.

Anyway, the reason it's important to think about things like this is because they may help us prepare for and understand alien life and strategies to deal with it. Or to avoid scenarios like the one

Spoiler:

hinted at by the end of Blindsight.

I'm not sure how that's antithetical to any kind of activity.

[mxlm]

I was thinking more along the lines of adjusting the educational system to take what we're coming to know about the limits of human cognition into account, but that too.

[AtomicClucker]

Well aside from keeping me from my little modeling endeavours I'm going to give this a second read - love the bit about vampires and not giving any spoilers away, they play a so wonderful part~

Definitely a mental kick in the balls IMO. I'll give a more proper opinion after a second go, first time was getting soaked, now to drown myself.

[MP-Ryan]

I'll load it onto my BlackBerry at work... should help pass the time on the next plane ride I'm stuck on.

[NGTM-1R]

I'm not sure how that's antithetical to any kind of activity.

I'm not talking about the whole book; merely the part the piece referred to as "sentience bad" towards the end.

[General Battuta]

I'm not sure how that's antithetical to any kind of activity.

I'm not talking about the whole book; merely the part the piece referred to as "sentience bad" towards the end.

Me too. Like I says:

the reason it's important to think about things like this is because they may help us prepare for and understand alien life and strategies to deal with it. Or to avoid scenarios like the one hinted at by the end of Blindsight.[/spoiler]

I'm not sure how that's antithetical to any kind of activity.

[StarSlayer]

Or to avoid scenarios like the one hinted at by the end of Blindsight.[/spoiler]

Don't reintroduce 90 degree challenged hyper predators?