Humorously enough there's a Peter Watts essay out there someplace bemoaning how the scramblers ended up as starfish aliens just like how everyone else does thei

Humorously enough there's a Peter Watts essay out there someplace bemoaning how the scramblers ended up as starfish aliens just like how everyone else does their eldritch aliens. The book clearly does a lot of legwork in the 'third act' to really sell the main thesis. Which is great the first time through, but I think makes subsequent readthroughs less impactful. I however always enjoy about the first two thirds. As a software developer, I spend a lot of time looking at the increasingly complex behavior (and even downright 'cleverness') of non-conscious entities. So my takeaway is less "life, but not as we know it" and more "YES, just like that, that's exactly what I've been trying to tell people for years." Unfortunately, explaining my day job in terms of Blindsight isn't exactly a step up.