• Rolando@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    you can only focus on about 10 percent of what you actually see in front of you,

    I read about this when I was in high school and it freaked me out because I convinced myself that there were Cthulhu-like eldritch abominations inhabiting the spaces I could not see RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and I couldn’t concentrate on school for the rest of the day.

      • Rolando@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You should read Blindsight by Peter Watts.

        Yeah, when I read that book I was like: this reminds me of that time I freaked out in high school!

        I admire the fact that the author put it online for free, and it’s a pretty good book, but it could have been better… Watts could have taken all those ideas about consciousness and humanity and produced something like 1984 or Catch-22 that embodies ideas that might otherwise get lost in abstractions. Unfortunately the ideas all get a little muddled.

        • WldFyre@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Yeah for sure! On the other hand it being such a dense, philosophical book means it really stands up to and benefits from a re-read! And the audiobook has a great narrator IMO.

          • Rolando@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Well, this conversation inspired me to finally read The Colonel, which reminded me of how great some of Watts’ ideas could be. Guess I’ll have to get a copy of Echopaxia next.

            • WldFyre@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Oh damn I didn’t know about that! I’ll be reading that this week, thanks for the link!

              Echopaxia was definitely different, I wasn’t crazy about it my first read through but it had me shook pretty good my second read through. I highly recommend it!

              • Rolando@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I think if you’ve already read Echopraxia then The Colonel won’t tell you much new, it’s more like a transition between the two novels.