Sci-fi master Ted Chiang on AI, time travel and more

Ted Chiang (0:00)

What science fiction usually wants from AI, from these conscious machines, is actually not exactly a butler, but a slave. We want someone who is competent and obedient and to whom we owe nothing. We don't want someone who makes any demands on us.

We want a robot that you could treat like shit if you wanted.

Alan Boyle (0:23)

Is it right to treat our future robots as slaves? Celebrated author Ted Chiang tackles that question in his Science Fiction Stories and in this episode of the Fiction Science Podcast. Greetings, Earthlings. I'm Alan Boyle, the mastermind behind Cosmic Log and one of your hosts for the Fiction Science Podcast, coming to you from the place where science and technology intersect with fiction and popular culture. Join me and my co-host, science fiction writer Dominica Phetteplace as we talk with Ted Chiang about artificial intelligence, time travel, and how having one of his stories adapted for a Hollywood movie changed his life.

That line, spoken by actress Amy Adams in the movie Arrival, encapsulates the kinds of questions that spark thought-provoking science fiction stories for Ted Chiang. One of his novellas, Story of Your Life, provided the inspiration for the 2016 film. In his most recent short story collection, Exhalation, Chiang spins imaginative tales about time travel, artificial intelligence, alien life, bioethics and predestination.

In Chiang's hands, these themes go way beyond mere plot devices. Delving deeply into the human condition is one of Chiang's trademarks. And that's one reason why he's receiving an award this month from the Arthur C. Clark Foundation for his use of imagination in the service of society. He's also one of the newest members of the Museum of Pop Culture's Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Ted Chiang came to the Seattle area 30 years ago to take a technical writing job at Microsoft, and technical writing is still part of his resume. But today, his fame stretches far beyond Seattle. The New York Times has called his stories mind-bending and deeply beautiful, while The New Yorker calls him one of the most influential science fiction writers of his generation. When Dominica and I connected over Zoom with Ted at his home in Bellevue, Washington, we started out talking about the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation's award and the coronavirus pandemic. But we ended up doing our own thought experiments about AI and time travel, and focusing on two of his short stories, one titled Life Cycle of Software Objects, and the other called The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate. If you haven't read those stories yet, you might enjoy revisiting this podcast after you have. But you don't need to read a word to enjoy this conversation.

Thanks so much for joining us, Ted, and congratulations on the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation's Unleash Imagination Award for using imagination in service to society. And there's a special call out to the crises that have been facing humanity lately between the pandemic and politics and rising concerns about the effects of technologies. Frankly, it's been a crazy year for crises. During the Foundation Ceremony, you will be taking part in a conversation on the themes of crisis and imagination. And I'd love it if you could share a little bit of your perspective about the craziness of the past few months and the role that the creative process can play in helping us make sense out of all this.

Ted Chiang (4:03)

I don't know that I have an enormous amount of wisdom to share on what has been happening in 2020, because, yeah, it has been a crazy year, and it has been confounding for me as it has been for most everyone else, I think. As for the role of creativity, and I'll say that rather than talking specifically about the creative process, but I'll talk about the role of, say, art in general.

One question that I've seen come up is, does art have any role to play in times of crisis such as this?

Is art important? Can art help us? I think art is important, and art can help us in times like these, because art is one way to sort of make sense of a world, which on its own does not make much sense. Art can impose a kind of order onto things, and I think art's power to help us, you know, it is not unlimited, but I think that it is still essential. I think that, I guess I think we would probably be worse off without art than we are right now. So it doesn't offer a cure-all, because I don't think there's going to be any easy cure-all, but I think art will help us. Art helps us get by in these stressful times.