Thoughtful stories about what it means to think.
June 13, 2011 12:50 PM Subscribe
What is the most thought-provoking speculative fiction you've read on the subject of human consciousness and thought?
Ted Chang was the first author that popped into my head while reading this question - his short stories Understand and Story of Your Life. Similar to Understand there's Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
On preview, I see I was beaten by notsnot.
posted by Gori Girl at 1:11 PM on June 13, 2011
On preview, I see I was beaten by notsnot.
posted by Gori Girl at 1:11 PM on June 13, 2011
Rushing in to be the first to suggest pretty much anything by Philip K. Dick.
I don't know if you like comics but Alan Moore and Grant Morrison both have some pretty amazing works on the subject. Again, just about anything.
posted by gerryblog at 1:18 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
I don't know if you like comics but Alan Moore and Grant Morrison both have some pretty amazing works on the subject. Again, just about anything.
posted by gerryblog at 1:18 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Greg Egan's Permutation City.
posted by orthogonality at 1:25 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by orthogonality at 1:25 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Another hat in the Chiang-ring; "Understand" is, indeed, mindblowing.
Gregory Benford's short story "A Tapestry of Thought" is more straight-up science fiction, but a good one.
posted by griphus at 1:42 PM on June 13, 2011
Gregory Benford's short story "A Tapestry of Thought" is more straight-up science fiction, but a good one.
posted by griphus at 1:42 PM on June 13, 2011
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
(still chipping away at it)
posted by jon1270 at 1:53 PM on June 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
(still chipping away at it)
posted by jon1270 at 1:53 PM on June 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
To be clear, the above isn't intended to be fiction so maybe that's a bad suggestion.
posted by jon1270 at 1:53 PM on June 13, 2011
posted by jon1270 at 1:53 PM on June 13, 2011
Great Apes by Will Self. Focuses more on human culture than consciousness, but the two are related.
posted by yarly at 2:03 PM on June 13, 2011
posted by yarly at 2:03 PM on June 13, 2011
Best answer: Bookhouse: Greg Egan's single-author anthology Axiomatic is likely something which fits the bill. Others have recommended his novels but I think the anthology is more in line with your question.
posted by Justinian at 2:06 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Justinian at 2:06 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh, while more of a near-future thriller and not quite up to Egan's level, R. Scott Baker's Neuropath is extremely disturbing and thought-provoking. It would argue that "thought-provoking" is a meaningless phrase, in fact. The disturbing part is that I probably agree even while feeling like I have thoughts being provoked.
posted by Justinian at 2:09 PM on June 13, 2011
posted by Justinian at 2:09 PM on June 13, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions so far. I just finished Understand and yes, that's what I'm looking for. Throwing some of the other suggestions into the Amazon cart.
posted by Bookhouse at 2:19 PM on June 13, 2011
posted by Bookhouse at 2:19 PM on June 13, 2011
Roger MacBride Allen's The Modular Man is a pretty interesting legal wrangling over where consciousness begins and ends.
The book Blindsight by Peter Watts is a first-contact story that goes way into what consciousness is even for as a survival trait.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:21 PM on June 13, 2011
The book Blindsight by Peter Watts is a first-contact story that goes way into what consciousness is even for as a survival trait.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:21 PM on June 13, 2011
Blindsight by Peter Watts.
This recommendation is apparently becoming a Mefi cliche (I've certainly been doing my part). Nonetheless, it's excellent. Weaves together many ideas from philosophy of mind and abnormal psych. It's possibly the most impressive example of sci-fi as a literature of ideas. It's short on gee-whiz and long on insight and horror.
"Understand" is a good yarn but I don't think it says that much, and it's hand-wavey in the places where it should be most lucid. By contrast Blindsight stands out for its rigor. It makes out its theses with particularity and isn't shy about getting to the heart of things; all of this at no cost to the sense of wonder.
posted by grobstein at 2:24 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
This recommendation is apparently becoming a Mefi cliche (I've certainly been doing my part). Nonetheless, it's excellent. Weaves together many ideas from philosophy of mind and abnormal psych. It's possibly the most impressive example of sci-fi as a literature of ideas. It's short on gee-whiz and long on insight and horror.
"Understand" is a good yarn but I don't think it says that much, and it's hand-wavey in the places where it should be most lucid. By contrast Blindsight stands out for its rigor. It makes out its theses with particularity and isn't shy about getting to the heart of things; all of this at no cost to the sense of wonder.
posted by grobstein at 2:24 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you liked "Understand," you should check out the post I did on Chiang last year rounding up all his short stories. He deals with consciousness a lot -- some other good ones of his on the topic are "Exhalation," which uses a clockwork scientist's self-dissection as a metaphor for entropy and the mind, and "Story of Your Life," which looks at the impact of language on the perception of time.
posted by Rhaomi at 2:26 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Rhaomi at 2:26 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Ken Liu's Algorithms for Love is about a woman who designs very intelligent autonomous dolls.
posted by segfault at 2:30 PM on June 13, 2011
posted by segfault at 2:30 PM on June 13, 2011
This is Robert J. Sawyer's bread and butter. Off the top of my head: The Terminal Experiment, Factoring Humanity, Mindscan, and the recently concluded trilogy of Wake, Watch and Wonder all revolve around pretty high-concept ideas of consciousness and artificial intelligence (especially as contrasted with "natural" minds). Plus he'll fulfill your Canadian content requirements for months. :)
posted by Zozo at 3:24 PM on June 13, 2011
posted by Zozo at 3:24 PM on June 13, 2011
Douglas Hofstadter's The Mind's I is a good collection of essays and short stories.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:03 PM on June 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:03 PM on June 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon. Which reminds me....I gotta read that book again. My favorite of TS.
posted by pushing paper and bottoming chairs at 5:14 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by pushing paper and bottoming chairs at 5:14 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
I just finished the awesome book "The End of Mr Y", by Scarlett Thomas, and it's about a lot (a lot!) of things, including thought and consciousness. It's been mentioned here before.
posted by Gorgik at 9:51 PM on June 13, 2011
posted by Gorgik at 9:51 PM on June 13, 2011
Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. Might not be exactly what you're looking for but I thought I'd throw it in the mix.
posted by northxnorthwest at 1:22 AM on June 14, 2011
posted by northxnorthwest at 1:22 AM on June 14, 2011
There's a few extracts and shorts mixed with some essays on consciousness in The Mind's I by Hofstadter and Dennet. Might lead you to other things too.
posted by pmcp at 7:22 AM on June 14, 2011
posted by pmcp at 7:22 AM on June 14, 2011
Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World might fit.
posted by missix at 10:53 AM on June 14, 2011
posted by missix at 10:53 AM on June 14, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by notsnot at 1:09 PM on June 13, 2011 [23 favorites]