We are such small and limited things that this is no great surprise. We do not wander through life blind, more we drift through life bereft of senses (and indeed, sense!).
The world we see is an echo of an illusion concocted by crude senses, and guided by a thought process that (while beautiful) is limited in what it can conceive.
Still, like a flower anchored to earth and at the mercy of all around it, we bloom and blossom to the delight of much around us - we play our part in the chaotic heartbeat of all around us.
So it’s not all cosmic apathy and horror, more blissful optimism with a hint of cosmic humour.
“Brains are survival engines, not truth detectors. If self-deception promotes fitness, the brain lies. Stops noticing— irrelevant things. Truth never matters. Only fitness. By now you don’t experience the world as it exists at all. You experience a simulation built from assumptions. Shortcuts. Lies. Whole species is agnosiac by default.”
~Blindsight
BTW, I’ll not read better poetry than you post this day!
You’ve activated my trap card! Read the book 14 times or so, and it’s not a long read. Finally feel I’ve caught most of the thing. Caveat: I’m not that bright.
Here’s another taste to whet your appetite:
“I brought her flowers one dusky Tuesday evening when the light was perfect. I pointed out the irony of that romantic old tradition— the severed genitalia of another species, offered as a pre-copulatory bribe—and then I recited my story just as we were about to fuck. To this day, I still don’t know what went wrong.”
(The character quoted had half his brain dug out as a child, some sort of viral epilepsy, replaced with some sort of electronics. He’s basically hyper-autistic. He’s also the unreliable narrator.)
Blindsight is hard science fiction. The spaceship captain is a vampire, an obligate carnivore from the Pleistocene era, our ancient enemy. Yes, it works.
We are such small and limited things that this is no great surprise. We do not wander through life blind, more we drift through life bereft of senses (and indeed, sense!).
The world we see is an echo of an illusion concocted by crude senses, and guided by a thought process that (while beautiful) is limited in what it can conceive.
Still, like a flower anchored to earth and at the mercy of all around it, we bloom and blossom to the delight of much around us - we play our part in the chaotic heartbeat of all around us.
So it’s not all cosmic apathy and horror, more blissful optimism with a hint of cosmic humour.
“Brains are survival engines, not truth detectors. If self-deception promotes fitness, the brain lies. Stops noticing— irrelevant things. Truth never matters. Only fitness. By now you don’t experience the world as it exists at all. You experience a simulation built from assumptions. Shortcuts. Lies. Whole species is agnosiac by default.”
~Blindsight
BTW, I’ll not read better poetry than you post this day!
I’ve not read blindsight, now I feel I need to!
Thanks for the quote ^_^
You’ve activated my trap card! Read the book 14 times or so, and it’s not a long read. Finally feel I’ve caught most of the thing. Caveat: I’m not that bright.
Here’s another taste to whet your appetite:
“I brought her flowers one dusky Tuesday evening when the light was perfect. I pointed out the irony of that romantic old tradition— the severed genitalia of another species, offered as a pre-copulatory bribe—and then I recited my story just as we were about to fuck. To this day, I still don’t know what went wrong.”
(The character quoted had half his brain dug out as a child, some sort of viral epilepsy, replaced with some sort of electronics. He’s basically hyper-autistic. He’s also the unreliable narrator.)
Blindsight is hard science fiction. The spaceship captain is a vampire, an obligate carnivore from the Pleistocene era, our ancient enemy. Yes, it works.