Blindsight by Peter Watts.

A deep exploration into philosophical issues related to consciousness & intelligence. I’ve been interested in this topic for quite a few years. The novel was suggested reading in Science and Philosophy, a compilation of essays. The ideas in Blindsight are compelling but I did not enjoy the story much. The configuration of the actual mission, which is at the centre of the plot, did not make sense to me.

The little I’d heard about this novel before was that it had vampires in space! And, yes, there is a vampire, but it isn’t a  protagonist. It mostly exists in the background, and when it comes to the front by the end of the story there were other much more interesting themes which overlapped with it which left the poor vampire as a meh character. The main protagonist and the other members of a spaceship crew are trans-humans, highly modified, physically and psychologically, and much more interesting. The aliens of the story are interesting too. The way Watts describes them, the aliens and the main protagonist (who lost half of his brain early in life), helped me reflect on the nature of consciousness, awareness of our own existence, awareness of other people’s lives and feelings and most importantly the concept of consciousness as a precondition for intelligence.

M.C. Escher. The Graphic Work.

A beautiful book by Taschen. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Not much in terms of text. An interesting introduction by the artist and short descriptions of the illustrations. The art though is amazing. Escher's most used techniques were lithography, relief printing and intaglio printing. I can imagine how hard it can be to draw these pieces with pencil but engraving them must by incredibly difficult.

Homo Deus. A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari.

Damn Good! 

This book more or less starts by stating that we “are bringing famine, plague and war under control,” it then goes on to briefly justify these claims. And yes, the justifications make sense. Harari then sets his eyes in the future asserting that next in the agenda for humanity is to achieve immortality, happiness and divinity. 

The rest of the book explains the above claim. Homo Deus is full of information, historical facts, anecdotes, and analysis of ideas and intellectual traditions. I don't know how to summarise it in less that a few thousand words so I will just mention some of the highlights here. 

 Humans, stories and religions: from animism (the world belongs to everyone, humans and animals we all follow the same rules), religion (humans are unique and special, we are part of a cosmic plan), to some evolutionary psychology (a need shaped generations ago continues to be felt subjectively now, even if it is no longer necessary for survival and reproduction, for example: emotions.) Science: emotions, sensations and thoughts are biochemical algorithms. 

What makes humans so special? 

Seen from a religious perspective, we could say we are part of God's plan, that we (and no other animal) have souls which will live for eternity. However, evolution rejects these ideas. Some intellectual traditions think of the Mind: a flow of subjective experiences, made of interlinked sensations, emotions and thoughts, which exist in a short period of time. This is also called Stream of Consciousness. Some believe Humans are the only species with minds. However, we are not really sure if animals don't have minds, or consciousness. Accoriding to science, consciousness is created by electrochemical reactions in the brain which fulfil essential data-processing function. Some people believe that we need subjective experiences (pain, fear) for survival (evolutionary benefit), others believe subjective experiences help us think about ourselves or to make decisions. However, some scientists think consciousness is the useless by-product of certain brain processes.

Connected to mind is the concept of intelligence. Are we the only intelligent species on earth? Have we managed to control earth because of our superior intelligence? Maybe not, 1 million years ago humans were as intelligent as now but they remained insignificant creatures.

What makes us really special, according to Harari, is that we are the only species able to cooperate flexibly in large numbers.

Harari states that fictions (e.g. money, gods, nations and values) enable better cooperation at large scales and also determine our goals (e.g. if we all believe in our nation we can cooperate together to make it greater). Religion is a fiction too. It is created by humans, not deities. It is defined by its social function which is to control people. It provides a system of moral laws, not invented by humans (but by God's or nature) which humans have to obey. Although science deals with facts, it needs religion to maintain large scale social order. According to science there is no meaning to our existence. However Humanism provides a platform to find meaning which is not rooted in a cosmic plan. Humanism worships humanity. It believes we (our experiences, our feelings) are the the ultimate source of meaning and our free will is the highest authority. Again science does not agree. There is no Free will. Our desires are the result of biochemical chain reactions. Furthermore, we are not individuals, we are flashes of experiences, which appear and fade (this according to brain studies). What science and technology are doing now is to create some sort of intelligence (no need to be conscious intelligence) which can perform tasks better than us. Particularly, AI can replace humans who professionalise or specialise. AI could not replace a hunter gatherer.

As science needs religious support and as Humanism cannot provide this support anymore, new streams of thought are emerging namely, techno-humanism and dataism. The last two chapters of the book deal with both ideologies/religions. If you want to know more about them, read the book!!

The Sandman Book Three by Neil Gaiman. And a long list of artists.

So far my least favourite of the 3 books I've read so far. Though there were a few stories which I really enjoyed. Best for me is Brief Lives in which Delirium and Dream go on a quest for their older brother Destruction. There were a few short stories at the beginning, which were OK. And another arc: World's End, which I thought was OK but didn't enjoy because I didn't like the art (last 3 photos). Overall, I am still enjoying The Sandman and will go for Book Four sometime in the coming months.

The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai by Wong Kar Wai and John Powers.

 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️   

All you need to know about Wong Kar Wai and his films. His creative processes and inspirations. How he writes his movies on the go. Sometimes writing the scripts in the morning and filming in the evening. Sometimes working on two movies at the same time!

The Collected Toppi. Volume five: The Eastern Path by Sergio Toppi.

B E A T I F U L. An anthology of 6 short stories set in western Asia and eastern Europe, kind of historical fiction, seasoned with folklore, mythology and superstition. The art is superb. Lines, textures, objects invading the next panel.

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Really entertaining story and characters. I like the ideas of ancient civilisations and cosmic mysteries. This book has both and more. I'll definitely go for book 2.