book-informationBlindsight (3)AuthorPeter WattsGenreHard Science Fiction, First Contact, Philosophical Science Fiction, Space OperaSynopsisWhen an alien presence makes contact with humanity in the most unsettling way, a crew of retrofitted humans—including a linguist with multiple personalities, a biologist who's more machine than human, and a vampire—is sent to the edge of the solar system to make first contact. As they encounter an intelligence so profoundly alien it challenges their understanding of consciousness itself, the mission becomes a terrifying exploration of what it means to be sentient. This hard science fiction masterwork questions whether intelligence and consciousness are the same thing, and whether humanity's self-awareness might be an evolutionary dead end.