The Wrong Kind of Evolution | Blindsight

[@jacekstopa2728]

The fascinating thing about the artificial specialized evolution in Blindsight (which really just reduces people to specific functions), is how each time it achieves the opposite result to the one intended. The supersoldier turns out to be a pacifist, the communication specialist can't even connect to her own species, let alone the aliens, and the predatory monster is the one who shows actual empathy and even compassion.

[@keithmichael112]

it's like trying to insist that your kid go into a certain field, it never works

[@wingracer1614]

So it's a book based on Grunge lyrics? As a friend, as a friend As an old enemy Take your time, hurry up

[@marcusrauch4223]

@@wingracer1614 I can hear that text in my head

[@aceundead4750]

@@wingracer1614 iv spent years trying to figure out what was being said, so it's "as an old enemy" thank you so much.

[@scleless1342]

@@aceundead4750 I do the se thing haha. I'll spend years just being too lazy to look up the lyrics, singing them wrong everytime. And I'm a musician lol! (A guitarist not a singer but still embarrassing. I've played Piano, Drums and Trumpet fairly often so no excuses)

[@stewartglencrose9023]

I love the fact this was referenced in the Casltevania series, Trevor Belmont said vampires weren’t stopped by holy symbols, but they got confused by geometric shapes.

[@Dxtuned]

Cool thing about the cross is that it is also a representation of the three dimensional cube (a core platonic solid) unfolded in a 2D plane.

[@forgettable8300]

@@Dxtuned that's actually really trippy

[@30035XD]

@@Dxtuned You mean the net of a cube.

[@psionicsknight6651]

Yes! Someone else who noticed that reference!

[@LaneMaxfield]

There's a Terry Pratchett book called Carpe Jugulum where vampires try to desensitize themselves to holy symbols by deconstructing them. That isn't a cross, it's just two right angles stuck together, etc. It works for a while, but then a witch starts messing with them and they can suddenly see holy symbols EVERYWHERE.

[@shumookerjee293]

Watts is a biologist by trade, so his explanations around other races and species are extremely plausible. Or at the very least, logically conceived.

[@Minotaur-ey2lg]

True, but he still admitted that the aliens turned out to just be hyper-intelligent cephalopods. I still find it to be one of the most realistic first contact scenarios.

[@tycarne7850]

@@Minotaur-ey2lg Hyper-intelligent but not actually conscious.

[@Scipionyxsam]

Meh. The quirk of being so deterred to geometrical shapes, that it literally destroyed your species is very far out there. It would be selected against heavily and there's no plausible reason for it to spread over a whole species in the first place.

[@mikekeenan8450]

@@Scipionyxsam The explanation given is that it was a side effect of other brain wiring which was presumably advantageous in other ways, and not a liability because perfect right angles almost never appear in nature. The "done in by architecture" line mentioned by someone else on this page alludes to it - once people started building things, right angles were suddenly everywhere, which helped push vampires towards extinction. Basically, it wasn't selected heavily against for a long time - and then it suddenly was. Don't recall if that's in the book, or only in the "presentation video" posted as promotional material on Watts' website.

[@burningbronze7555]

I don't dislike supernatural vampires but I do prefer it when they have to start dealing with the laws of nature and biology as how strange it can get always interests me.

[@veramae4098]

I like the idea of a genetic defect. It could work. Humans have part of the genetic code to create our own vitamin C, but somewhere in genetic history it was broken.

[@DarrinSK]

I think the way they treated vampires in the blade movies from when I was a kid was a perfect mix

[@maeton-gaming]

This story has the greatest ever scientific reasoning behind the reason Vampires get "grand mal" seizures when they look at right angles (crosses) and I FREAKING LOVE IT.

[@conq1273]

It's like House Asher from edgar allen poe where the sister raised from the dead

[@robertgronewold3326]

@@conq1273 The sister didn't rise from the dead in House of Usher. She literally had a seizure that caused her to go rigid, and her idiot brother entombed her alive, forcing her to break out.

[@masterzoroark6664]

In Echopraxia there is also a vampire, but besides here there is one more creepy element- the so called zombies. "Zombies" are people who have an implant that let's them turn off their conciousness, making their brain focus on every other processes. They are extremaly effective as combatants, but need orders to do anything. There is also one time protagonist of Echopraxia manages to get a closer look at one of the zombies- they are expressionless and their eyes dart inhumanly quickly all around, gatthering as much information as they can since their brain is unshackled from pains of migrane or information overload

[@JinKee]

The most horrifying moment in all science fiction is when the Zombie implant disengages at the moment of death, resulting in you waking up when all your life choices catch up with you.

[@Minotaur-ey2lg]

Don’t forget the escape. Multiple vampires coordinating without communicating. Just knowing what the optimal path would be if they could cooperate. That’s terrifying.

[@masterzoroark6664]

@@Minotaur-ey2lg And the vampire who is on the mission also found a way to... Manipulate people into exhibiting vampire weakness, among many other things. In book it was explain that she stresses you in a way that your body subtly changes. She also managed to do that ho herself- she survived seeing the cross in the opening of the book without taking the antieuqlidians

[@tomorbataar5922]

The zombies are more than just implanted humans, the book makes a point to the protagonist who looks down on them that they may in fact be dead people revived by technology in nations lacking ethical compulsions, after all after death a lot of rights go away. Or voluntary conscripts. The zombies the vampire controls are hacked anyway, so we wouldn't know where they come from.

[@Minotaur-ey2lg]

@@masterzoroark6664 I really need to re-read those. Echopraxia especially. Great novel, but he definitely doesn’t spoon feed you anything.

[@tristanlawson5371]

They actually used the right-angle aversion from Blindsight to explain the efficacy of crosses in the animated Castlevania series!

[@theshlauf]

Honestly that moment felt really out of place in that series... Vampires, Monsters, Demons, Gods, Souls, Holy Water, Heaven, Hell and the personification of Death itself are all confirmed to be real in that series. But the idea that a christian symbol can repel a non-christian vampire is the thing that needs to be rationalized in the lore.

[@GiRR007]

Which doesn't make sense considering Castlevania is fantasy with actual magic and actual gods so the vampires would be averse to cross simply because of right angles in that setting.

[@CeroAshura]

I'm pretty sure the vampires didn't get extinct through our direct means, rather because they would hibernate extended periods, they eventually woke up to find more and more geometrical shapes being built by the other humans, whom did so unaware of both the existence of vampires and their weaknesses.

[@Pete...NoNotThatOne]

Damn Crucifix Glitch. Don’t forget, vampires are so insanely territorial that if you put two of them in a room, you’d need a mop for the blood afterwards. They were never that prevalent anyway, being rabidly homocidal toward another of your own species can’t be good.

[@hunterkage2842]

@@Pete...NoNotThatOne How does the crucifix glitch even work

[@Pete...NoNotThatOne]

@@hunterkage2842 it’s basically a result of the way their brains are wired. If an intersecting right angle fires the right pattern of neurons in the retina, it’s the equivalent of flashing a light at a person with epilepsy. Causes a _grand mal_ seizure. When they first evolved, there are very few such intersecting right angles in nature, so it never really became an issue. It was only when people started making things like windows that they found these strange predatory semi-humans having seizures, and were able to kill them. The anti-Euclidians are anti-seizure medications, and administered to allow them to function in our society - with the understanding that we can withdraw the medications if they act up.

[@DanielJoyce]

@@hunterkage2842 supposedly just a wiring fault with their brains.

[@tycarne7850]

@@Pete...NoNotThatOne This turns out to be a trait that was deliberately engineered into a truly extreme form when they were brought back, to prevent them collaborating (it didn't work - they were so insanely good at simulation that they could predict the actions of other vampires without ever meeting them) or breeding - if it had been that extreme when they originally existed, they could never have had offspring.

[@slebetman]

There are two things I specifically loved about this book. First, the idea that a predatory organism can hide in plain sight within the saccade. Second is the reason why the aliens became hostile towards humanity - they misunderstood our culture to be a DOS attack on their brains because they could not understand why any organism would communicate information that is not useful.

[@sevenheadedweasel]

This book blew my mind - the idea that maybe the most successful possible lifeform has advanced processing with no comprehension. This is more and more believable as we see things like chatGPT - you could swear you're talking to a person but there are subtle tells that make you realize it is like the creatures from blindsight. Truly a prescient novel.

[@ducksongfans]

imagine chatgpt without all the filters

[@twrecks6279]

@@ducksongfans Sadly, while I agree that a filterless chatGPT could be good for reasons of having less bias, there's a reason for the intial prompt at least. These language models aren't actually very talkative by nature. They have the data to be, but that doesn't mean that they actually are talkative. You do actually need to prime them to be talkative. ChatGPT without the filters just doesn't really want to talk that much. Lol.

[@ducksongfans]

@@twrecks6279yeah it would also sayy and give illegal stuff like drug recipes and links to illegal stuff

[@twrecks6279]

@@ducksongfans Oh yeah that as well. I wasn't really talking about that though, mostly the insane left wing political bias lmao. ChatGPT will absolutely preach to you if you let it.

[@FirstnameLastname-zq8oy]

@@twrecks6279 why are you sure it would take on an “insane left-wing” political bias? Couldn’t it just as easily take on an insane right-wing political bias? ChatGPT could preach about right-wing ideals just as easily as it could left-wing ideals, I’m curious why you’re so sure it would specifically do the former if the filters were removed.

[@liabobia]

I love how this book sets up Sarasti as a threat and it turns out he's a bro and just as interested in human survival as everyone else.

[@NevTheDeranged]

It's not really clear how much of his actions were his own, and his much he was being run by Theseus, though. Also, his people live on earth, too. But it was cool how it was never clear whether he was a villain or hero- because of course vampires don't think in those terms at all. It'd be interesting to see how his character would be portrayed in a visual medium.

[@boringstuff1542]

I haven't read the book, but based upon the summary he has an incentive to keep humans alive. If humans are dead then he dies and his kind dies. I don't think that makes him a "bro". He doesn't want to save humanity because he wants to he wants to save humanity because he has to.

[@NevTheDeranged]

@@boringstuff1542 the sequel goes into a bit of it, but long story short, vampires don't need humans to survive. Even on Theseus, they have synthetic food, so why not synthetic flesh for vampires, complete with necessary hormones? Seems easy enough. They might keep us around the way we keep livestock, tho.

[@thomasjoychild4962]

@@NevTheDeranged Yeah, they don't nutritionally need humans, but they DO also live on earth and are still too sentient for Rorshach to not consider interactions with them as an intrinsic cognitive attack.

[@NevTheDeranged]

@@thomasjoychild4962 maybe. It probably doesn't matter, once Rorschach was aimed at earth, there's probably nothing that will deter it. The smart play, for both humans and vampires, is to diasporate into the solar system as soon as possible, so we are no longer at risk of being wiped out by a planetary disaster.

[@MrEdd215]

Thing is, Quinn’s recommendations are so good I have to make myself watch the whole video instead of just stopping halfway through to buy the book. He’s earned that much trust.

[@Patrick-yl2xv]

I haven't even watched the video as I write this but I just have to say that your channel is by far one of the best sci fi channels on yt. You have introduced me to some of the best fiction I have ever read and tempted me to actually read Dune which was one of the best book experiences I've had since game of thrones. Thank you and keep up the great work.

[@Pete...NoNotThatOne]

I’ve yet to see anybody explain _why_ it was decided to resurrect vampires. Their brains are compartmentalised to such a point, they can literally multitask better than any normal computer. Their thought processes are so efficient they can outthink most electronic devices. There’s a scene near the end where Siri sees inside Jukka’s quarters, and the ship’s readout system is a bank of projected screaming human faces. But, it’s very efficient because our brains are hard wired to pick up subtle clues in facial expressions - so the ships forward momentum may be portrayed by the size of an ear, oxygen might be the lines on a forehead, etc. when Siri asks why the faces are screaming, Jukka just shrugs and says, “I _am_ a predator…”

[@Pete...NoNotThatOne]

@@braindeaddiver yeah, people with the vampire’s ability to hibernate, sure. But they also resurrect fully functioning vampires and put them in positions of command.

[@hendo1877]

the vampire brain is an exceedingly efficient algorithm. efficient at hunting humans i.e. always being at least one logical step ahead of their prey. Sirasti is the "missing link" between humans and the cephalopods.

[@traktorsajt]

I remember reading somewhere that they were trying to cure some genetic defect with retroviral therapy but brought back vampires instead. After that, they just tried making the best of the situation (put hibernation genes into astronauts, use vampires as walking supercomputers).

[@MnemonicHack]

Because humans thought they could control them. Simple as.

[@msid7748]

Resurrecting vampires and putting them in charge was the most edgelord-y, Darwin Award-getting moment in an otherwise smart book that takes itself very seriously.

[@kevinbaker6200]

Ever heard of the book Those of my blood? Vampires were aliens that crashed on earth long ago then split into two groups the tourists which saw humans as merely food and the residents whom wanted to coexist with humans. Good book

[@zeehero7280]

Sounds almost like the Magius from Valvrave lol.

[@josephpotter5766]

Ironic that the title of this video suggests that the vampires are the wrong kind of evolution, when Blindsight pretty much establishes that they are actually a move in the right direction, towards non-conscious intelligence. Though, of course, this being Peter Watts, the sequel then challenges the very assumptions created in the first book, since maybe it's not consciousness that's the problem after all. Either way, if not for that crucifix glitch, Vampires would have been well on their way to becoming something a lot more well adapted, even before Portia stuck it's oar in.

[@chart6454]

Hmm…do you really think Watts intends Portia as an argument that maybe consciousness isn’t such a problem?

[@josephpotter5766]

@@chart6454 Not what I was implying. It's suggested/established that vampires are 'half conscious' and evolving in that direction. Val clearly intends to use Portia to bootstrap her sub-species into something more usefully cooperative. "Why can't we all get along". Which presumably means sliding deeper down into functional hyperintelligent non-consciousness. Portia 'sticking it's oar in' via whatever Brooks is at the end of the story subverts the natural progress of vampire evolution, which was already headed in the direction of non-conscious hyper-processing.

[@thomasjoychild4962]

@@josephpotter5766 Valerie specifically wanted to engineer the territorial instincts out of vampires, I don't think she was interested in altering or accelerating anything in relation to their consciousness, not as her primary goal at the time at least.

[@psionicsknight6651]

Honestly, the vampires depicted in Blindsight are one of my favorite concepts, as well as one of my favorite versions of vampires-to the point it inspired how I intend to depict vampires in one work, but I digress. It really does make me hope that, if and when this series gets more well-known, more people will get inspired by this “hard sci-fi vampire” and showcase their own versions. Maybe even do a hard sci-fi version of other folkloric creatures. 🙂

[@efxnews4776]

You know, in Brazil theres the legend of the Mapinguari, a gigantic creature so monstruos that would scream with a giant mouth in their belly. Turns out that the creature was real all along, it was an now extinct species of sloth's, and that wasn't the only creature more and more scientists find other creatures that seem to be mythological, but actually exist, another example is the Anaconda wich scientists find not a fossil, but an actual anaconda dead body.

[@mediumsoftdrink2866]

@@efxnews4776 I brought up Watts' vampires with my family before when we started getting into Bigfoot conspiracies. I think it's entirely plausible to think that a large majority of folklore is/was species that may not even be around anymore, maybe even species that are sub-species of our own genes. Who knows, Bigfoot could've been a Neanderthal that forgot to shave and just took a bit too long of a cave-nap ending up on the flip side of the century!

[@hotmailcompany52]

@@mediumsoftdrink2866 You should check out SCP-1000. Whilst its more sci fi than hard scifi I still found it to be an enjoyable read

[@hotmailcompany52]

House of Suns has a race of post-humans who are centaurs that spring to mind

[@avnblaa7283]

My man is grinding out videos like no tomorrow

[@MrPooleish]

No book review has been met with a quicker trip to Audible. This sounds amazing, and I can't wait to get lost in it.

[@KallyFair]

You taking up on Blindsight is a dream come true! Love both the book and your channel! ❤

[@ih8people]

Watts' writing is quite unusual to me. I started reading the Rifters trilogy, and it's not your usual sci-fi where only the good guys win. He describes a civilisation collapse caused by what can probably be best described as a genetically engineered DNA virus that also somehow infected the future Internet (?) in such great detail, while also making you really _feel_ the characters thoughts. Great read so far

[@ClayLiford]

Reminiscent of “The Hounds of Tindalos,” where the titular dimensional dogs could only enter our world via right angles. Circles and curves were their bane.

[@tatersquad2000]

I finished this novel a few days ago. It now ranks in my top 20 of all time. I will be re-reading it every couple years. A masterpiece.

[@wasistdustin]

Your channel really is one of my favorites by now. Love the frequent uploads! The Three Body Problem Series and now Blindsight is just hitting my Sci-Fi nerve :)

[@scottstallings3543]

I have to admit that i deeply admire your appreciation for the endless possibilities given by science fiction. If only we had more such people we might yet see a world different beyond anything we've dreamed...

[@tonoornottono]

dreamers do the dreaming but the engineers have to get it done

[@cnawan]

Good job linking the vampires hibernating until their existence was forgotten with the aliens "photograph" of the entire Earth and their vanishing - I hadn't made that link. Also, how freaky was the photograph idea? Literal omniscience for these quasi-Lovecraftian aliens, even for just an instant - and the way it's described as past tense. They already know, you are seen. And then there's Watts' hive-minds, and the all too believable "zombie" soldiers with their conciousness just switched off...

[@tomorbataar5922]

As I read Echopraxia, the "snapshot" of Earth might just be a photograph of an unknown ecology. Later on in Echopraxia the aliens straight up makes a bug trap for humans AND the far greater intelligence of the Bicameral hivemind. They just want to learn, not invade.

[@mediumsoftdrink2866]

I also agree that the Firefall was simply a "snapshot" of our unknown world as it was. I wouldn't say surveillance, but that is definitely what we must've perceived it as. There is actually some concept art used for I think the French edition or another edition I can't remember exactly, where some scenes like the Firefall were depicted, also in the Blindsight short film (REALLY good) and it's truly scary to think of not only a bunch of these "satellites" suddenly burning through the atmosphere in such a perfectly gridded lat/long format, but also the ensuing dread or paranoia that came after the fact, with the thought of just being known by something out there that you don't know of yet. Caught in 4K with your pants down. If I saw that, I sure as hell know I'd much rather flip the switch with my conscious. Just take me, I am prey and I AM OKAY WITH IT!!!

[@sheepycultist]

Blindsight was the first hard sci-fi book I've ever read and it remains one of my favorites. I've been looking for blindsight content recently, so this is perfect!

[@CopperLontra]

I read this last year on Audible. The audiobook is pretty good, the narrator is great and particularly good with the vampire captain. So glad to see some videos talking about it.

[@NevTheDeranged]

Yeah his creepy Sarosti voice was one of my favorite parts.

[@BillNyeTheBountyGuy]

Quinn is really hustling with this uploads, it's noted and appreciated!

[@RubyDianArts]

Have you ever read the novel or watched the anime series "From The New World"/Shin Sekai Yori? (Don't read the manga.) It has a really intriguing set of human evolution and genetic manipulation on psychic humans going to hundreds of years into the future. In it, due to terrible wars that brought down the modern world using psychic humans, humans with psychic powers were genetically manipulated to carry a gene that would cause them to "die of shame" if they ever killed a fellow human. However, that causes dire consequences when one is raised among beings who are not human.

[@peasant8246]

You awoke my PTSD from that anime. D:

[@rasputin924]

Is the manga bad or what's the problem? I genuinely don't know.

[@peasant8246]

@@rasputin924 No, its quite good I would say. It just can be disturbing, sometimes.

[@rickwrites2612]

Why the dire consequences? Is it because the gene actually just works to stop you from killi g those you are raised among, so they DO kill other humans when they finally see them? Or because the gene only stops them from killing humans, theg wind up killing the beings who raised them?

[@Charnelex]

This is one of my favorite thought topics: alternative developments in the evolution of things. Thanks so much Quinn. You have such good taste, bro.

[@Meep-0424]

I’m loving the high quality streak of videos, Quinn! It’s great that you’re branching out, excited to see what comes next.

[@troglodyteprime]

Might be the best intro on the site

[@callithasmed8468]

Sharing your vids with everyone I can. I just want to say, on that last video when you read that Rorschach quote in sync with that music..... the "sick and sinister af" levels were off the chart. Just great production value, man.

[@douglaswilliams6834]

I'm jealous of your book collection. 🙂 You have some nice hardcover editions there. About a decade ago, I bought a Kindle and pretty much quit buying paper books, but I've recently started buying paper books again. I just love holding an actual book in my hand and turning the pages. I also love the way they look on the shelf. Kinda like how vinyl albums are having a resurgence in this age of streaming music.

[@johnp3298]

Never read Blindsight but just the description of vamps make me want to. I steered clear of the resent vampire craze until I saw The Strain. That show broke down the biology as well, even of the transformation process. Had me hooked after that

[@TomFromMars]

I discovered your channel at the highest of asoiaf fever and i loved that you covered things i was already familiar with like lovecraft and liu cixin. But i never heard of this serie before. I'll sure read it asap cause you sell it so well. The idea behind the scramblers is so intriguing and the part about the vampires is also interesting.

[@asdf9890]

I’m not much of a reader, but love your descriptions and explanations of amazing books I would otherwise go ignorant of. I love this reimagined vampire lore, it seems well thought out and even plausible.

[@Minotaur-ey2lg]

Stoked you’re doing videos on one of the finest, but least known, modern science fiction writers.

[@staslifshitz9918]

Thank you so much for covering this novel. I loved it and thought it was unique in it's outlook and the real attempt to base everything in science. Almost no one I know read it and to see a video on it made me really happy. Thank you!

[@mathiassvensson7911]

I find the way humans are unable to hide how terrified they are of the vampires very unsetteling. Thank you for highlighting a great book!

[@Brannon1009]

I honestly thing you are my favorite content creator. It’s always a treat listening.

[@biocapsule7311]

The thing with vampire stories (supernatural or otherwise) is that I never like the assumption that vampires must be 'sociopaths'. Especially if the criteria for sustenance and survival is just the contents of blood and not the taking of lives. Consider Mosquito, if you take away the annoyance of their bite and the spreading of disease, they are really one of the few lifeforms that don't take the lives of other lifeforms to survive. It always come across as something necessitate by the sources of sustenance being reasonability combative to being feed upon, than a natural inborn instinct for malice.

[@igodreamer7096]

Very intriguing. The explanation about the vampires like a subspecies of Homo Sapiens is fantastic!

[@boswelljoseph]

I came here originally for your videos on Three body, and since then you’ve convinced me to read Asimov, Dune, and now Blindsight

[@boswelljoseph]

You need an Amazon hyperlink

[@neelzen9975]

Quinn you're on a roll man. Thanks for the upload and keep up the good work.

[@lawyeroutlaw]

Where do you get your general artwork you use when you narrate? So much of it is so good, dark, or awesomely creepy!

[@jhat8324]

Possible Spoiler: But another reason Sarasti stays by themselves most of the time could be because he was actually being puppeted by the ship.

[@shausen1179]

Yeah, i remember that, it was revealed at the end he was a puppet.

[@yamieamarshmallow2995]

@@shausen1179 not completely! I've seen Dr. Watts reply to people who asked do Sarasti exist as a separate person or he is only a vessel for a AI. Peter told that Sarasti has his own personality and he and AI merged only when he connect to Captain directly by a cable.

[@finlanderxx]

My guess is that why Jukka Sarasti stays by themselves is just because that is just typical for a person with a Finnish name.

[@Psilo-gn1sx]

Lol why would you write this in the comments section full of prospective readers?

[@thomasjoychild4962]

Sarasti wasn't a puppet until the very end, IIRC Watts said in a reddit AMA that the AI "intervened drastically" at the end because Sarasti was "malfunctioning" due his the medication being sabotaged and it needed immediate function from his body rather than useless and almost-certainly-fatal-anyway seizures.

[@FSM46AND2]

Watts’ visions are at another level. Cheers

[@psybilliah]

thank you for finally covering blingsight!

[@barrybend7189]

You'll love Battle Angel Alita's take on Vampires. They are an aberant mutation that can be passed on. In a world where cyborgs and biological monstrosities are made having something familiar yet also still unknown is fun to read up on. The vampire character in question is also one of Dracula's wives from Bran Stoker's Dracula.

[@snarkdragon]

You must be referring to Caerula, the vampire Alita meets during the Zenith Of Things Tournament. At least, I think it was the ZOTT. Caerula was fighting on behalf of the Stellar Nursery, if I remember correctly.

[@barrybend7189]

@@snarkdragon yes. Her whole substory within that arc was really well written.

[@jessedark9580]

Great content ❤️ Love these stuff

[@scottabc72]

I loved this book and found it more than a little disturbing (but that was more to do with the consciousness issue). However my first impression when starting the book was negative. The human crew seemed at first generic 'mix of quirky space badasses' thats been so popular since 'Aliens' and when one crew member was described as a vampire, I just rolled my eyes 'someone should tell this guy vampires arent trendy anymore' But the atmosphere and building tension drew me in and anything that can turn an unfair bad first impression around has to be very good.

[@donventura2116]

At first I didn't like the crew either. almost for the exact same reasons. However, once Siri's story and memories were developed, it became clear to me that all of their augmentations and their drawbacks were an intentional choice to highlight how they had lost a part of their humanity and it contrasted with Siri who was slowly regaining his empathy. Lots of themes and interpretations to pull from how characters relate to each other and their technology. I think that's what takes it from a cool first contact story to a great sci fi that explores the relationship of humanity and technology.

[@scottabc72]

@@donventura2116 Yes, great points!

[@mediumsoftdrink2866]

@@donventura2116 Yes exactly! As Siri said himself, here at the edge of interstellar space, thanks to a boatload of freaks, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. These aren't just quirky space badasses, they are specifically chosen "people" with legitimate biological augmentations that significantly impact their psychological activity. That make them just as alien as the 'thing' they are going to meet. And even the vampires played a very integral part of the overall thematic representation of sentience, and how it may not be what we think it is exactly. I just absolutely love the rollercoaster that Watts sends you on. It's funny when you first mention to new people how a space vampire is the mission commander of a teleported-anti-matter-propelled spacecraft with the directive of finding new intelligent life in interstellar space. I am now EAGER to tell anybody I know about just how cool a "𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺-𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦" would look like lol.

[@GetIntoItDuhh]

Great vid, I love your style!

[@futureshocked]

blindsight was amazing and yeah, it's wild that the Vampires are the LEAST interesting part of it. That would have been a whole assed other book for any other author but Peter Watts is like, "whatever here's a sub-sub plot"

[@NevTheDeranged]

He does the same thing in his Rifters series, a ton of ideas that would make for entire novels for a lesser writer are just sprinkled liberally throughout.

[@LensFog]

Quinn is pumping out videos, each top tier. Amazing work

[@BlUsKrEEm]

This reminds me of one of my favorite Sci-fi books - "The Madness Season" about a vampire that survives an alien invasion and tries to stay hidden at first. Really a brilliant piece, despite the somewhat silly premise

[@loununez5544]

Oh man, I'm happy you did a video on a Peter Watts book. I highly suggest his Rifters series!

[@tehdii]

A week ago I have discovered Blindsight, I am now in the middle of Echo. BS has this fascinating atmosphere, reminiscent, not by mistake I gather, to The Thing film. I was glad that the book didn't turned out to be flat. It has layers, mental chess in a way. It is a joy to read for the first time. Sometimes poetic language mixed with Lem like technical jargon and overall freshness of well grounded ideas that are not that far away from today science makes this book a pleasure to read. It is not a quantum something because nowadays everyone do quantum. Freshness comes from well thought and well implemented and mixed ideas that are "currently" circulating in the technical press. And the rock vampire riff on the somewhat hackneyed or no longer containing much of originality first contact theme is such a delicious cherry on the spaceship ;)

[@EregY666MeTaL]

Nature does not create intersecting right angles! also the human instinctively fells unconfortable around the vampires, because that trait evolved along with humanity, the way petter watts puts it is like the cat that gets crazy when around a cucumber because it instinctively think it is a snake, they are more inteligent than humans because they have a predator brain that uses all of its power to attack while humans had to think of survival so they can come up with better strategies and we get stuck with our prey brains. Excelent video!! Blindsight has become one of my favorite books and i discovered it on the comment section of one of your dark forest videos i think!

[@ninjasrpirates]

It hurts my heart hearing the line "its the only way the youtube algorithm notices me". Your content is incredible.

[@Ericthefilo]

really enjoying your videos about these books, gives me new stuff to add to my 'to-read' list

[@askani21]

Please Quinn, do a video on the zombies next! In Echopraxia, the implications of the existence of zombies are truly terrifying, and also linked to the greater theme of Firefall as a whole, consciousness - and its absence.

[@MattUebel]

Blindsight is incredible, this videos are great! Hopefully you cover echopraxia:)

[@andrewd4723]

Hey Quinn, awesome video! I think there isa series you would enjoy called "Sun Eater Chronicles". A young lord in a galactic human empire strives against the first human predators to grace the stars

[@JennifulCreations]

Wow. Great review, Quinn and I like your name! The real scary thing about this story, is it might not be fiction. 🙄

[@GlorifiedGremlin]

Man I've always had such a love for science, and particularly biology and biochemistry, and your channel was the thing that made me realize that love translates to fictional biology and scientific concepts as well. Thanks for opening me up to this stuff, I'm obsessed now 😂

[@ecbrown6151]

Just finished this yesterday on your recommendation! Great book, a chilling piece of hard sci-fi. I’m looking forward to the 1.5 book and the sequel.

[@metoo3342]

Echopraxia was a little harder to follow for me than blindsight

[@wbeaurowe]

I’m so glad you covered this book and I just found it. It’s been a favorite of mine for years and is incredibly underrated. Found you from your old Dune videos and love your channel. You do a great job summarizing everything but with all the good left in! Thank you for what you do!

[@galenerso1594]

The new logo looks nice !!

[@gharm9129]

This is one of the best reviews for a book I've ever heard.

[@IamNotChangingMyName]

Good day Quinn; have you ever consider being sponsored by an online bookshop, an audiobook service or a eReader manufacturer? Your channel has been definitely driving what I've been reading/listening for a long time now. I appreciate very much what you are doing and the love and care you put into your work; your channel is amazing. Thank you!

[@TimNutting]

Blindsight is one of my absolute favorite books. The sequel is just as creepy and weird as the original, and probably the best part was the full world building glossary on Watts' website.

[@dangbar200]

He wrote one of my favorite sci fi novels, Starfish. Such an amazing author.

[@soasertsus]

As cool as the vampires were, it did kind of break my suspension of disbelief at times when in such a grounded hard sci fi story, literal fantasy vampires are just running around the place. But they do serve an interesting role in the story, the idea of the crucifix glitch being an accidental neutral trait that survived because the environment didn't put an evolutionary pressure on it until humans started building right angled objects seems to parallel Watts' views on consciousness in humans. Just an inefficient evolutionary glitch that managed to survive because we lacked any environmental pressure or intelligent predators after the vampires became extinct. I also loved how in the end (SPOILER): It is basically revealed that Sarasti was probably never even in charge to begin with, and just a figurehead because humans don't like taking orders from machines and it's more comforting to them to think some genius vampire was calling the shots even if they couldn't understand his thought process either. The entire story was just a battle between the super intelligent ship AI and the super intelligent non-sentient aliens with the human crew playing catch up the whole time and when the chips were down the AI just euthanized Sarasti because having him as an intermediary was gumming up the machine. Absolutely genius book in so many ways.

[@DeSpaceFairy]

Little rant not about the whole content of the video, just for the term of "wrong" evolution, it's more an *unfortunate* side effect for both parties and a particularly ironically tragic for vampires, that their nature make them prey on their parents species, has the potential to dive them to their own extinction by being too performant at it. Evolution is contextual to what the environment allow, there are no right or wrong only good enough to thrive or dead ends and extinction.

[@georgeoldsterd8994]

I love stories that bring classic horror creatures into sci-fi settings. Wish there were more films and books like this.

[@le_travie7724]

I'm definitely adding this to my wishlist

[@Dark_Jaguar]

An "aversion to right angles" is the first time I've seen a compelling "sci-fi" explanation for a vampire's weakness to crosses. I like it. Now we just need an explanation for their weakness to needing to count beads thrown in the air at them, like in that one vampire movie? Of course I mean Sesame Street: Follow that Bird with The Count.

[@NevTheDeranged]

Traditional vampire and fae behavior correspond at least nominally with a bunch of diseases (like rabies) or mental/ health issues (schizophrenia, ocd, strokes, etc). Differences freak people out when they have no understanding of the reasons behind them, so they make up reasons that justify their fear.

[@Dark_Jaguar]

@@NevTheDeranged I would be careful trying to mix and match historical accounts of monsters with this or that disease. There may be something to it but it's just as likely that people who knew almost nothing about the world beyond their town's borders, for whom even their own kings and queens were as mythical and unproven to exist as gods, simply filled the darkness of their ignorance with the form and shape of monsters instead.

[@NevTheDeranged]

@@Dark_Jaguar probably some of both. I'm not suggesting any particular behavior was solely or even largely responsible for any particular myths, just that they may have been contributing factors to some of the specific elements of some of them.

[@Dark_Jaguar]

@@NevTheDeranged You're not the first is the think. Such speculation goes back decades and decades. Maybe not for rabies though. Other diseases have been slotted in too. Sociologists often warn of getting too carried away with it because there is a high risk of only seeing the things that support the idea and ignoring anything that doesn't fit.

[@NevTheDeranged]

@@Dark_Jaguar ok. I promise I won't get carried away. ;)

[@aaronarguelles8322]

Quinn is pumping out these amazing videos consistently now. LOVE IT!

[@jerrysstories711]

I've read this and I've talked to dozens of big fans of this book. The funny thing is, they go on and on about the very cool concepts in it like the vampire subspecies and 'intelligence without awareness', but they can BARELY remember the plot at all beyond "they found this space vessel that was intelligent but not aware and... umm...umm..." This is my issue with a lot of scifi, the foreground story is sometimes so much less interesting than the few hints dropped about the background story.

[@wingracer1614]

That's why I personally don't care for the book. Yes there are some interesting concepts in the book but none of them really go anywhere. The super fans love to say "you're just too dumb to get it." No, I understand it just fine, I just don't care.

[@jerrysstories711]

@@wingracer1614 I have some friends who were just bananas about "The Life Aquatic" for no reason I could discern. They thought it was the deepest movie ever and insisted that I just didn't get, that most people just don't get it. It took me a couple of years to realize they were so amazed by it because it was the first time they've ever understood symbolism. Funny, isn't it, how they always conclude "you're too dumb to get it" and never "you're too smart to be impressed with it". ;-)

[@jbtechcon7434]

I haven't read this book, but I totally get your frustration with tedious plots that hint at a more interesting background story. The Uplift series began with a stupid mystery whodunit, literally a bunch of characters on a ship and someone got murdered and they had to figure out who while the killer was among them. HOW TRITE! And then the second book was nothing but a long chase scene, with just a few little hints sprinkled in about the backstory I actually cared about. I felt like I was reading filler. I read the Wikipedia summary of the rest of the series and found it WAY more interesting than the books.

[@wingracer1614]

@@jbtechcon7434 It's been a LONG time since I read them but if I remember correctly, they get better as they go. From what I recall, the first two were just barely interesting enough to get me to keep reading and I finally started to really like them around the 3rd or 4th.

[@thomasjoychild4962]

The plot definitely DOES involve the characters repeatedly breaking into the alien ship, getting readings and samples, then going back to their ship to analyse things and talk about the results. There is more that starts happening when the aliens start to respond to being repeatedly broken into, but yeah it's a lot of data gathering and discussion.

[@thomasfreeman3660]

I’m so glad your covering this one! Just read it a few months ago.

[@theDEADLIESTwarrior7]

I love this guy's videos but I spend more time paused reading book spines on his shelves than watching his videos lol I wish there was a list of book recommendations by him, the same style of books he makes vids about are the ones I love

[@morenointl]

found your channel 2 days ago and I can't stop watching!

[@fabiograziani8869]

This Channel is getting better and better!

[@alexandergonsalves202]

Great video as always quinn. Any plans to dig into echopraxia? Id love to see your takes on the book! Honestly there's nothing I love more after a long day of work than having a schmoke and watching your vids. Keep it coming!!!

[@nikpad5822]

Remember Neill Blomkamp talking about this book on the Joe Rogan podcast. I think he has plans on making a movie on it or series from it. If I heard correct, when he talked about it I found it very interesting. Now hearing you talk about it more in depth. I'm going to pick it up

[@TheCynicsCynic]

Cool to see you make a video on Blindsight. Peter Watts is one of my favorite authors.

[@Leitis_Fella]

Quinn is such a great narrator!

[@mra3076]

I’m actually tryna write my own version of vampirism and lycanthropy through science. I thought I was some genius but I’ve barely touched the surface of sci-fi fantasy lol. This sounds so good I need to read it.

[@NorthChaos]

I really enjoy your videos! It's become somewhat an event whenever I see a notification, I know I'm in for a treat!

[@brycelynch2138]

3:57 - I love how you took the photograph of the Theseus lamp somebody made and used it.

[@notvonbayern9202]

God what an amazing vision on vampires, that caught me so offguard. Just plain brilliant

[@jlntvgt]

Love your videos Quinn, you have a such a great voice. Have you narrated any audio books? I would definitely listen to an audio book narrated by you?

[@ThePerfectBiscuits]

I love falling asleep to your videos. I wish I had the money to help out more but I like every video and have started commenting; it’s the most I can do for you brother. Please keep up the good work and thank you for the sound sleep.

[@theonetrueleaftheonetruele5781]

Incredible how much your channel has grown over a few years! Keep it up with the great content

[@V1ctoria00]

idk why i clicked on this but thank you for sharing.

[@freeman1785]

This actually sounds like it would be a good movie one day

[@orlandocantu7806]

Love your channel, because of you I have read the Three Body Problem ( which was fantastic!), and am now reading Blindsight. Without you I would never have explored Sci-Fi outside the classics, Thank You

[@immortaljanus]

Another great video on a great book. Hope the next one is about the insane customization of human brains that characters in Blindsight possess.

[@jamjohnson2023]

Hey Quinn in one of your previous videos I saw that you had two books in the shadow of the torturer series. I was curious to see if you would ever do a video on them. They are some of my favorite books ever, but as far as I can tell nearly no one knows or talks about them. Thanks man.