Cosmic Horror

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A community to discuss Cosmic Horror in it's many forms; books, films, comics, art, TV, music, RPGs, video games etc.

"cosmic horror... is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock... themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries... the sense that ordinary life is a thin shell over a reality that is so alien and abstract in comparison that merely contemplating it would damage the sanity of the ordinary person, insignificance and powerlessness at the cosmic scale..."

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ekZepp

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Is your mind just a parasite on your physical body? | Blindsight novel by Peter Watts (bigthink.com)

submitted 5 days ago by ekZepp to c/[email protected]

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Blindsight is a unique kind of first-contact novel. Its focus is not on humanity’s first meeting with an alien civilization, but rather that this civilization is highly intelligent, yet lacks consciousness.

What if intelligence can thrive without consciousness?
What if there is nothing special about self-awareness?
What if it is just evolutionary dead weight, bound to disappear soon?

The idea rests on machine metaphors for life and mind, which strike this columnist as profoundly mistaken.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48484.Blindsight

Blindsight Sci-fi Short Film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkR2hnXR0SM

The Horrible Truth About Consciousness | Blindsight

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

If you don't need a physical copy, the novel is free on the author's web site: https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

IMHO it's a pretty good novel, might have been a classic with a bit more editing.

[–] ekZepp 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I agree. A bit less horror and more philosophical than I was expecting, still a nice story with a very interesting plot.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

I've read the sequel, Echopraxia, which does focus on first contact, and liked it quite a bit. I'm not sure I buy it, per se, but the Chinese Room/machine allegory seems reasonable enough. I suspect this author might be more open to the ideas expressed in that one.