Posthuman Blues

Self-Consciousness Among the Stars

Giancarlo Genta, who has written wisely and sanely about SETI in his new book Lonely Minds in the Universe (New York: Copernicus, 2007), would add that we don't really know whether intelligence and self-consciousness always co-exist. Just how anthropomorphic do we want to be in our definition of these things?

Of course, the book to read if you're really interested in ETI and anthropomorphism is "Blindsight" by Peter Watts.