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Re:Science Fiction Books About Aliens by katabasis on Sunday May 14, 2023 @12:49AM (#35935402)
This is a great first-contact novel, probably my favorite example of this genre. The book concludes with some ideas about the nature of consciousness that I found to be legitimately frightening. I read the book years ago but it feels even more relevant now as we watch new forms of “intelligence” like ChatGPT beginning to emerge.
Re:Science Fiction Books About Aliens by deepspace on Sunday May 14, 2023 @01:06AM (#35935475)
Exactly. Blindsight is a hard read, but it is as frightening as any horror story I have ever read. It absolutely deserves a place in the list of best alien stories.

Every time I use ChatGPT, I think about Blindsight's premise of intelligence without consciousness. Interacting with the AI feels so much like the alien interactions in that book, it is scary.

Re:Science Fiction Books About Aliens by duskwuff on Sunday May 14, 2023 @01:39AM (#35935602)
At least none of the LLMs I've worked with have decided to refer to themselves as Rorschach.

Yet.