← Back to Concept Index
consciousness-and-self-awareness
The novel explores the idea that consciousness and self-awareness may be evolutionary handicaps rather than advantages.
1 chapter across 1 book
Blindsight (2006)Peter Watts
Full Text
This chapter, titled 'Full Text,' is primarily composed of front matter and introductory material for Peter Watts's novel 'Blindsight.' It includes copyright information, a dedication, epigraphs, a detailed introduction by Elizabeth Bear that outlines the novel's premise and thematic concerns—such as consciousness, alien indifference, and the nature of humanity—and the beginning of the prologue, which introduces the narrator Siri Keeton's childhood experience with his friend Robert Paglino, highlighting themes of empathy, social alienation, and the impact of genetic engineering.