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Science Fiction Writer Ted Chiang Wins Pen/Malamud Prize

Science fiction author Ted Chiang wrote the short story that became the movie "Arrival." He talks with host Scott Detrow.

DETROW: We are really happy to have you, and I want to start really broadly because I think so many of your stories seem to be asking big questions, whether it's how humans would behave when they encounter a destructive new technology or an alien race or the physical presence of God. And for people who haven't read it, the basic setup is, it's a time-travel story but within the form and telling of almost an "Arabian Nights"-type tale, taking place in ancient Baghdad. Can you walk us through your thinking, your argument, about the fact that ChatGPT probably isn't going to write a great novel, or Dall-E is not going to be creating really valuable fundamental works of art?

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