The Consciousness of the Posthuman in Peter Watts’ Blindsight

The purpose of the paper is to analyze what seems to be one of the main themes of Blindsight – the treatment of the human brain and consciousness as yet another part of the body that can be enhanced to maximize its efficiency, with all the unnecessary parts to be remade or removed. This point seems to be emphasized by Watts’s characterization of the extraterrestrials – star faring, resilient and superintelligent, but lacking any sort of individuality or consciousness. Having, or being,a “self” is, it would seem, more of a flaw than a positive trait.