Exhalation
by Ted Chiang
A merchant in medieval Baghdad is given the opportunity to revisit his greatest mistake. An anatomist who is made of metal and breathes argon decides to dissect his own brain. A woman and a man spend years fulfilling their responsibilities to the software children they created. A journalist wrestles with the way technology shapes our ideas of what truth is. An archaeologist who studies evidence that the Earth was recently created encounters something she can’t explain. A therapist counsels people obsessed with what their alternate selves have done.
These are characters we can relate to, whether the worlds they inhabit resemble our own or not. Like us, they are fascinated with the world; like us, they are trying to use what they’ve learned in their quest to live a meaningful life.
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A merchant in medieval Baghdad is given the opportunity to revisit his greatest mistake. An anatomist who is made of metal and breathes argon decides to dissect his own brain. A woman and a man spend years fulfilling their responsibilities to the software children they created. A journalist wrestles with the way technology shapes our ideas of what truth is. An archaeologist who studies evidence that the Earth was recently created encounters something she can’t explain. A therapist counsels people obsessed with what their alternate selves have done. These are characters we can relate to, whether the worlds they inhabit resemble our own or not. Like us, they are fascinated with the world; like us, they are trying to use what they’ve learned in their quest to live a meaningful life.