Dorian
I am not sure if I am able to finish this book. I picked it up because I am interested in exploring questions around consciousness. I must admit the premise around this particular group of individuals seemed odd to me, but in hindsight maybe I should have seen the red flag already in the blurb.
The chapters about Siri's past and his different theory of mind are the most interesting and make you think about identity, relationships, alienation. But for a book with such a strong premise it kind of falls flat when it comes to picture the concept of consciousness as lived experience. The main characters are not very developed, which you might think, it's really important for the main theme of the book. They seem to be there only to serve as props for pseudo philosophical musings, not as complex and nuanced individuals. The vampire character's whole personality is being a vampire. The "pacifist" soldier character's whole personality is being a pacifist soldier. It looks to me that they are thrown there as cool concepts to serve whatever point Watts is trying to make, which I am not sure I am interesting in knowing. To me it looks like he is trying too hard to be original, throwing as many things at the reader as to give to the reader the illusion of complexity, while also not doing the work of exploring it or its implications.
On a personal note: a vampire in a SF novel? Why? Why not call it an augmented human or give it another name? It really looks ridiculous.
I am not sure if I am able to finish this book. I picked it up because I am interested in exploring questions around consciousness. I must admit the premise around this particular group of individuals seemed odd to me, but in hindsight maybe I should have seen the red flag already in the blurb.
The chapters about Siri's past and his different theory of mind are the most interesting and make you think about identity, relationships, alienation. But for a book with such a strong premise it kind of falls flat when it comes to picture the concept of consciousness as lived experience. The main characters are not very developed, which you might think, it's really important for the main theme of the book. They seem to be there only to serve as props for pseudo philosophical musings, not as complex and nuanced individuals. The vampire character's whole personality is being a vampire. The "pacifist" soldier character's whole personality is being a pacifist soldier. It looks to me that they are thrown there as cool concepts to serve whatever point Watts is trying to make, which I am not sure I am interesting in knowing. To me it looks like he is trying too hard to be original, throwing as many things at the reader as to give to the reader the illusion of complexity, while also not doing the work of exploring it or its implications.
On a personal note: a vampire in a SF novel? Why? Why not call it an augmented human or give it another name? It really looks ridiculous.