Ted Chiang Explains the Disaster Novel We All Suddenly Live In - Electric Literature
Ted Chiang’s hot takes are like his short stories—punchy, powerful, and thought-provoking.
Opinion | It’s 2059, and the Rich Kids Are Still Winning - The New York Times
The New York Times is publishing science-fictional op-eds. The first one is from Ted Chiang on the Gene Equality Project forty years in our future:
White supremacist groups have claimed that its failure shows that certain races are incapable of being improved, given that many — although by no means all — of the beneficiaries of the project were people of color. Conspiracy theorists have accused the participating geneticists of malfeasance, claiming that they pursued a secret agenda to withhold genetic enhancements from the lower classes. But these explanations are unnecessary when one realizes the fundamental mistake underlying the Gene Equality Project: Cognitive enhancements are useful only when you live in a society that rewards ability, and the United States isn’t one.
Related links
Science Fiction Doesn’t Have to Be Dystopian | The New Yorker
Ted Chiang has new collection out‽ Why did nobody tell me‽
Okay, well, technically this is Joyce Carol Oates telling me. In any case …woo-hoo!!!
Party Discipline | Tor.com
There are some delightfully dark touches to this Cory Doctorow coming-of-age near-future short story of high school students seizing the means of production.