“When we talk about AI in science fiction, we’re talking about something very different than what we mean when we say AI in the context of current technology,” he said.Ĭhiang isn’t speaking here merely as an author of short stories, but as someone who joined the Seattle tech community three decades ago to work at Microsoft as a technical writer. I guess the narrative is usually, ‘It’s the end of civilization.’ And people have not turned on each other in that way.”Īrtificial intelligence is another field where science fiction often gives people the wrong idea. “That is not typically a theme in stories about disaster or enormous crisis. “It’s worth thinking about, that traditional depictions of pandemics don’t spend much time on people coming together and trying to support each other,” Chiang said. This pandemic may well spark a new kind of sci-fi theme. If it looked like various movie pandemics, it’d probably be hard for anyone to deny that it was happening.” “That might be the product of the fact that it is not as severe. “The greatest conflict that we see generated is from people who don’t believe in it vs. Clarke Foundation for employing imagination in service to society.
And this week, he’s receiving an award from the Arthur C. They spark the thought experiments that generate award-winning novellas like “The Lifecycle of Software Objects,” and inspire Hollywood movies like “Arrival.”Ĭhiang’s soulful short stories have earned him kudos from the likes of The New Yorker, which has called him “one of the most influential science-fiction writers of his generation.” During this year’s pandemic-plagued summer, he joined the Museum of Pop Culture’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Ted Chiang, a science-fiction author of growing renown with long-lasting connections to Seattle’s tech community, doesn’t back away from such questions. What rights does a robot have? If our machines become intelligent in the science-fiction way, that’s likely to become a complicated question - and the humans who nurture those robots just might take their side. (Alan Berner Photo via Knopf Doubleday Publicity)
The story of Ted Chiang’s life includes stints as a technical writer in the Seattle area and worldwide acclaim as a science-fiction writer.
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