Chiang, Ted. Exhalation: Stories

Abstract

Of the contemporary sci-fi writers, Ted Chiang is perhaps the best in business who successfully merges philosophy with science. In the cosmologies Chiang create in his stories, he weaves narratives where technological artefacts have deep philosophical and existential consequences for the characters. Unlike typical hard sci-fi writers, Chiang is not interested in the nitty-gritty and mechanisms behind doing science. Rather, he is interested in the pursuits behind science and the implications it has for our sense of self. As is typical of Chiang, he will speculate a technology radically changing one’s subjectivity and perception of reality. Rather than answering questions and taking sides, Chiang mostly raises questions and plays with his readers’ thinking.