History Literature / Blindsight

** [[http://www.rifters.com/blindsight/vampires.htm A Flash presentation set in-universe]] describes the various physiological and mental characteristics of vampires, and gives their binomial as [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer ''homo sapiens whedonum.'']]

A crew full of odd and eccentric specialists are aboard: a linguist with [[ProfessorGuineaPig surgically-induced multiple personalities]], a biologist who's [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul given up his sensory pathways for machine augmentation and perception]], a top-brass soldier [[NeverLiveItDown known for treason]], and the protagonist is an information analyst with [[EmptyShell half his brain removed]]. They are all lead by a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]][[hottip:*:turns out, vampires were a subspecies of humanity that went extinct tens of thousands of years ago, and science has resurrected them in the modern age]], a sociopathic genius and [[ImAHumanitarian cannibal]] who, nevertheless, is the only one coldly-logical enough to run the mission.

The book is known to be a depressing and pessimistic (yet enlightening) story on a variety of topics relating to consciousness, information theory, and neurology, and has received highly positive critical acclaim despite its semi-obscurity. Watts has a sequel in the works, ''Echopraxia''[[hottip:*:Just like "Blindsight" the name of a peculiar neurological condition.]], (working names ''Dumbspeech'' and ''State of Grace''), which is set for release in the second quarter of 2014. Maybe.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: In the novel, Vampires turn out to have been ''real''... and were, in actuality, a HumanSubspecies adapted to prey on us. They existed millenia ago, before recorded history. Since they were predators, they had to have superior pattern-matching skills (all the tricks of autistic savants plus more) and general intelligence, better night-vision and the ability to put themselves into suspended animation (since, being apex predators, they had to give our populations time to re-grow, else they would hunt us to extinction). Unfortunately, their superintelligence comes at a cost...their super-charged pattern recognition tends to get overstimulated when [[WeaksauceWeakness intersecting right-angles take up too much of their visual field]]. Basically, their brain ''glitches out'' and they have [[BrownNote fatal epileptic seizures]] whenever they see any kind of corner [[hottip:*:Thus explaining the origin of [[CrossMeltingAura the myth about them being weak against the cross]]. Essentially, when humans invented architecture, the vampires all died out. The resurrected vampires have to take "[[AppliedPhlebotinum Anti-Euclidean]]" drugs to enable them to survive.

The book is known to be a depressing and pessimistic (yet enlightening) story on a variety of topics relating to consciousness, information theory, and neurology, and has received highly positive critical acclaim despite its semi-obscurity.

A crew full of odd and eccentric specialists are aboard: a linguist with [[ProfessorGuineaPig surgically-induced multiple personalities]], a biologist who's [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul given up his sensory pathways for machine augmentation and perception]], a top-brass soldier [[NeverLiveItDown known for treason]], and the protagonist is an information analyst with [[EmptyShell half his brain removed]]. They are all lead by [[OurVampiresAreDifferent an actual, literal vampire]][[hottip:*:turns out, vampires were a subspecies of humanity that went extinct tens of thousands of years ago, and science has resurrected them in the modern age]], a sociopathic genius and [[ImAHumanitarian cannibal]] who, nevertheless, is the only one coldly-logical enough to run the mission.

In the near future, the world is stunned when a collection of unknown objects simultaneously burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, in a grid pattern, over the entire planet. Dubbed the "Firefall", this mysterious act is accompanied by an immensely powerful radio signal. Scientists track it's origin and discover what appears to be an approaching alien vessel, outside the solar system. A mission is quickly organized to establish contact and see what's going on. A ship is built, called the Theseus.

In the near future, the world is an stunned when a collection of unknown objects simultaneously burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, in a grid pattern, over the entire planet. Dubbed the "Firefall", this mysterious act is accompanied by an immensely powerful radio signal. Scientists track it's origin and discover what appears to be an approaching alien vessel, outside the solar system. A mission is quickly organized to establish contact and see what's going on. A ship is built, called the Theseus.

In the near future an event known as the "Firefall" stuns the world when a collection of unknown alien objects burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, simultaneously, in a grid over the entire planet, accompanied by a strong radio signal. The signal is tracked by scientists to an approaching alien vessel outside the solar system. A mission is quickly organized to send a ship out to establish contact and see what's going on.

* RealitySubtext: One of the book's main messages, about the dangers of putting sociopaths in positions of power, may or may not have been inspired by Watts' torture at the hands of TSA soldiers while traveling between the US and Canada.

* LeaveBehindAPistol: Played with. In a sort of flashback scene that details Bates' background, the major gives a microwave pistol to a terrorist the military had captured and tells her she'll have sixty seconds, unsupervised, in the room behind her. [[spoiler: In that room were the men who had just tortured said terrorist's associates to death.]]

* ArcWords: "Imagine you are [X]."

* MagicFromTechnology: Invoked at one point.
--> Bates spread her hands. "Who knows? Might as well be black magic and elves down there."

* StarfishAliens: The Scramblers are among the best examples of this trope. [[spoiler:It's implied that their alien way of thinking is actually the status-quo in the universe and that human self-awareness is an abberation. The Scramblers picked up our various transmissions from Earth and, after decrypting the signals, get incomprehensible (to them) statements about "feelings" and "identity". From their perspective, since they lack sentience, they assume the only reason to broadcast things like that to somebody is to ''waste their time''; they see this as tying up vital processing power. As such, this appears to them as a kind of ''attack'' by us. So the aliens decide to strike back. Self-awareness itself - that which makes us human - is seen by the aliens as a dangerous virus to be stamped out.]]

* {{Hallucinations}}: ''Rorshach's'' incredibly strong magnetic fields induce some rather vivid and disturbing visions in the crew when they venture inside. Siri sees alien beasts out of the corner of his eye, James thinks her leg is some kind of monster attacking her, and Bates at one point believes she no longer exists.

* NothingIsScarier: The crew's first few expeditions into ''Rorschach''. Siri expects to be nabbed by a horrible alien moster at any second, and yet the place seems to be deserted, yet still creepy as all hell. The hallucinations induced by the magnetic fields in there don't help matters.

* Hallucinations:

* [[Transhuman]]: In the year 2082, you're transhuman or you're obsolete. Baseline humans are physically and mentally unable to keep up with those, like the entire main cast, who have received augments.

* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler:Averted by the Theseus A.I.]]

* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler:Class 3. Sirri suggests that by the time he returns to Earth, the vampires would have exterminated humanity and taken their places as rightful owners of the world.]]

** TheHero: Siri, as the narrator.
** TheLancer: Isaac.
** TheSmartGuy: Jukka.
** TheBigGuy: Amanda.
** TheChick: Susan, though she also has elements of TheSmartGuy. Furthermore, the rest of the Gang play different roles.

* MyBelovedSmother: Helen's relationship with Sirri.

A crew full of odd and eccentric specialists are aboard: a linguist with [[ProfessorGuineaPig surgically-induced multiple personalities]], a biologist who's [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul given up his sensory pathways for machine augmentation and perception]], a top-brass soldier [[NeverLiveItDown known for treason]], and the protagonist is an information analyst with [[EmptyShell half his brain removed]]. They are all lead by [[OurVampiresAreDifferent an actual, literal vampire]][[hottip:*:turns out, vampires were a subspecies of humanity that went extinct tens of thousands of years ago, and science has resurrected them in the mordern age]], a sociopathic genius and [[ImAHumanitarian cannibal]] who, nevertheless, is the only one coldly-logical enough to run the mission.

* ActionGirl: Amanda Bates, the military portion of the crew.

* LovePotion: [[spoiler: Not exactly a Love Potion, but after Siri has half of his brain removed, his mother secretly gives him stimulants to promote mother/child bonding.]]

* TitleDrop: "Blindsight" is a real-life phenonemon where blind people whose eyes are not actually physically damaged can sometimes avoid obstacles in their path, despite not being able to consciously see them; their brain processes visual input despite the normal vision part of the brain being damaged so that they are not consciously aware of their vision. In the novel, this is used [[spoiler:as a fundamental metaphor for the distinction between conscious and unconscious mental processing; the characters experience a variety of forms of Blindsight when their cognition is impaired by Rorschachs magnetic fields, the Scramblers are suspected to be non-sentient beings for whom all sensation is blindsight, Vampires are implied to be similarly evolving toward non-sentience, and the fundamental horror of the novel rests in the final implication that non-sentient, unconscious cognition is evolutionary superior and will dominate in the universe. Human awareness is portrayed as inherently self-destructive in the creation ofHeaven and the Singularity.]]

* FridgeHorror: [[spoiler: The Backups. Cunningham got woken up, but there was another Gang of linguists, a military officer, and a synthesist in the crypt who weren't disturbed, presumably the contextual second-best in their fields. From their point of view they would have lain in their coffins in earth orbit, expecting to be brought back from the dead, and never woke up again]]

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: In the novel, Vampires turn out to have been ''real''... and were, in actuality, a HumanSubspecies adapted to prey on us. They existed millenia ago, before recorded history. Since they were predators, they had to have superior pattern-matching skills (all the tricks of autistic savants plus more) and general intelligence, better night-vision and the ability to put themselves into suspended animation (since, being apex predators, they had to give our populations time to re-grow, else they would hunt us to extinction). Unfortunately, their superintelligence comes at a cost...their super-charged pattern recognition tends to get overstimulated when [[WeaksauceWeakness intersecting right-angles take up too much of their visual field]]. Basically, their brain ''glitches out'' and they have [[BrownNote fatal epileptic seizures]] whenever they see any kind of corner [[hottip:*:Thus explaining the origin of [[{{Cross-Melting Aura}} the myth about them being weak against the cross]]. Essentially, when humans invented architecture, the vampires all died out. The resurrected vampires have to take "[[AppliedPhlebotinum Anti-Euclidean]]" drugs to enable them to survive.