Ray Nayler's sci-fi novel The Mountain in the Sea is not an easy read, but contains plenty of (sea) food for thought-- the novel takes place in the near-ish future around the Con Dao archipelago in the South China Sea, where octopi have evolved the capability to use tools and a symbolic language-- and while there are some thriller and sci-fi tropes (there's an android, an AI powered fishing vessel, and plenty of international intrigue) the bulk of the narrative is philosophical, concentrating on trying to understand the perspective of a different, decentralized consciousness (Nagel's famous essay "What is it Like to Be a Bat?" is referenced) and really the book is like the film Arrival . . except that the aliens aren't from space, they are from a foreign watery place right here on earth, but the communication problem is just as intractable.
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