#spoileralert
In a world far into a future – say we are faced with these 4 hypothetical questions. What will you choose to do?
#1If you could choose to not see or feel physical beauty for a more equal world, would you choose to do so?
#2What if you could increase your intelligence to super human levels – where would you stop. And what would you do to mankind with your gift of super intelligence?
#3Is time an illusion. What if alien life comprehended language and time differently from us? Does spoken and written language have to match – or be linear?
#4What if the very fundamentals you base your life on is shaken and proved wrong?
Ted Chiang is undoubtedly one of the most deeply intelligent sci-fi authors you can read.
This eight ‘short stories’ including the title that served as the basis for the movie “Arrival.” are beyond sc–fi. They are speculative questions of a world ours could be. An unbeatable combination of nerd appeal and philosophy.
Here are 4 of the ones I absolutely enjoyed – along with fundamentals they question.
#Story1 “Understand:”
What if you could increase your intelligence to super human levels – where would you stop. And what would you do to mankind with your gift of super intelligence?
“A man who suffered severe brain damage due to a fall through thin ice, is put on an experimental medicine that begins to stimulate neurogenesis on a massive scale. The protagonist becomes preternaturally intelligent, realizes that such super-intelligence is considered a threat, but is able to keep one step ahead of the ordinary minds who pursue him. That is until he runs into another patient who had a similar accident and treatment”
#Story2 “Division by Zero:”
What if the very fundamentals you base your life on is shaken and proved wrong?
“If a scholar’s life was invested in an idea or way of thinking about the world, but then the scholar proved that that way was in error, might it cause a descent into madness and even a crumbling of one’s world?”
#Story3 “Story of Your Life:”
Is time an illusion. What if alien life comprehending language and time different from ours? Does spoken and written language have to match – or be linear?
“This is the story that the Amy Adams’ movie “Arrival” is based upon. The protagonist is a linguist charged with helping to communicate with a newly arrived alien species that has a very different approach to language. In the process of learning their language and interacting with them, she begins to see the world as they do – time being an illusion”
#Story4 “Liking What You See: A Documentary:”
If you could choose to not see or feel physical beauty, would you adopt that?
“This imagines a technology that prevents wearers from being able to recognized beauty (and ugliness as well.) As the subtitle suggests, it’s presented as if it were a documentary that is following a college’s debate over whether to require the student body to use said technology”
Sci-fi is hands-down my favorite genre.
#reviewswithranjani
#scifibooks
Amazon : https://www.amazon.in/Stories-Your-Life-Others-Chiang/dp/1101972122