Found 3 comments on HN
jseliger · 2014-08-08 · Original thread
by assuming these alien beings would react exactly how human's would
This is a tangent, but Peter Watts's brilliant novel Blindsight deals with this issue (among many others). Describing how would unfortunately ruin a key plot point.
He uploaded the whole novel to his website: http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm but in my view it's more than worth getting in paper: http://www.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/0765319640 .
AngryParsley · 2010-03-19 · Original thread
If you like hard sci-fi and haven't read Watts's novel Blindsight, I highly recommend it. It's the only sci-fi story I've read that has dozens of footnotes referencing real papers published in real journals. On the Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness, it's aggregated diamond nanorod.
The book is CC-NC-SA licensed and available for free online: http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm
It's also published in real paperback form: http://www.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/0765319640/
Permutation City: People can run simulations of themselves or entirely migrate their consciousness into computer programs, but existence is often limited to the amount of computation that you can afford, leading to slow existences that stretch time into fractions of realtime. That premise had me hooked, but the book has fantastic thought provoking plot points throughout. Highly recommended. http://www.amazon.com/Permutation-City-Novel-Greg-Egan/dp/15...
Blindsight: Amazing first alien encounter book that should be read by everyone that is a fan of the genre. Memorable cast of characters...the Vampires are really interesting. All kinds of introductory scientific concepts throughout. Entertaining and educational. http://www.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/0765319640/r...