blindsight
hard sci-fi that asks whether consciousness is even worth the calories. ruined me for a week.
blindsight.shrine
watts writes first contact the way it would actually go: the aliens do not care about us, and we are not even sure we matter to ourselves. the scramblers are terrifying not because they are monsters but because they are better at being alive without any of the furniture we think life needs.
the real question sits under the plot — if consciousness is just overhead, why are we still carrying it. ruined me for a week.