…without informed consent.

  • @audaxdreik@pawb.social
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    09 months ago

    Blindsight mentioned!

    The only explanation is that something has coded nonsense in a way that poses as a useful message; only after wasting time and effort does the deception becomes apparent. The signal functions to consume the resources of a recipient for zero payoff and reduced fitness. The signal is a virus.

    This has been my biggest problem with it. It places a cognitive load on me that wasn’t there before, having to cut through the noise.

      • @audaxdreik@pawb.social
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        09 months ago

        Oh yes, I think Peter Watts is a great author. He’s very good at tackling high concept ideas while also keeping it fun and interesting. Blindsight has a vampire in it in case there wasn’t already enough going on for you 😁

        Unrelated to the topic at hand, I also highly recommend Starfish by him. It was the first novel of his I read. A dark, psychological thriller about a bunch of misfits working a deep sea geothermal power plant and how they cope (or don’t) with the situation at hand.