165:. The device also allows communication between those two parallel timelines (but only those two timelines, not others), allowing the user to see what would have been different (for example, if they had decided to choose a particular choice depending on whether a red or blue light was shown). The ability to learn about alternate timelines causes existential crises for many people: “Many worried that their choices were rendered meaningless because every action they took was counterbalanced by a branch in which they had made the opposite choice.”
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224:, that the novella is "about flawed characters making bad decisions and trying to make better ones" as well as that the "central concept is staggering in its implications, but its central characters also feel deeply singular—even when the point of the story involves multiple variations on them." All of this "offers shocks and empathy both; like the prisms within it, it contains far more than you might think."
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I’m pretty confident that even if the many-worlds interpretation is correct, it doesn’t mean that all of our decisions are canceled out. If we say that an individual’s character is revealed by the choices they make over time, then, in a similar fashion, an individual’s character would also be
173:: she is attending group therapy sessions given by psychologist Dana, with a hidden motive of trying to convince another participant in the sessions to sell his device, which she and her collaborator believe could be valuable.
157:, and then displays either a red or a blue light based on that measurement result. This creates two different timelines, initially identical (except for the color of the lights), but which diverge as time progresses due to the
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The story is narrated from the view of two women: Nat, who works in a shop selling "parallel reality" access devices, and Dana, a psychologist who treats people struggling with this new technology. Nat is engaged in a
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In the near future, quantum mechanics and computer technology have discovered parallel realities, and a device has been invented which will create parallel realities according to the
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revealed by the choices they make across many worlds.
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352:"Science Fiction Doesn't Have to Be Dystopian"
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434:"Take A Breath And Dive Into 'Exhalation'"
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831:(or stories) published in the 2000s is a
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719:The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling
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691:The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate
567:"Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom"
562:Internet Speculative Fiction Database
22:"Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom"
7:
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740:Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom
557:Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom
404:Lohier, Patrick (October 4, 2019).
105:Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom
835:. You can help Knowledge (XXG) by
677:Liking What You See: A Documentary
350:Oates, Joyce Carol (May 6, 2019).
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705:The Lifecycle of Software Objects
322:Crichton, Danny (March 8, 2020).
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765:Stories of Your Life and Others
432:Sheehan, Jason (May 10, 2019).
712:Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny
656:The Evolution of Human Science
378:Axvig, Matt (11 August 2019).
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882:Science fiction short stories
461:Tobias Carroll (2020-07-28).
485:. Locus Online. 27 June 2020
218:Tobias Carroll wrote in the
892:Short stories by Ted Chiang
531:"sfadb: Nebula Awards 2020"
483:"2020 Locus Awards Winners"
111:novella by American writer
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670:Hell Is the Absence of God
406:"Exhalation by Ted Chiang"
298:Many-worlds interpretation
191:Many-worlds interpretation
147:Many-worlds interpretation
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16:Short story by Ted Chiang
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128:The Concept of Anxiety
824:This article about a
684:What's Expected of Us
560:title listing at the
773:Exhalation: Stories
663:Seventy-Two Letters
183:Exhalation: Stories
151:quantum measurement
118:Exhalation: Stories
77:Exhalation: Stories
887:2019 short stories
798:Heptapod languages
649:Story of Your Life
505:"2020 Hugo Awards"
134:The New York Times
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569:. Online copy at
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72:Published in
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757:Collections
533:. sfadb.com
276:2020 Nebula
193:and argued:
67:Publication
28:Short story
876:Categories
698:Exhalation
642:Understand
613:Ted Chiang
578:at Tor.com
576:Discussion
468:2024-09-01
329:TechCrunch
309:References
272:Nomination
250:2020 Locus
203:Ted Chiang
189:about the
177:Background
113:Ted Chiang
97:7 May 2019
32:Ted Chiang
263:2020 Hugo
241:Category
209:Reception
733:Omphalos
287:See also
280:Novella
201:—
187:agnostic
57:Genre(s)
47:Language
792:Arrival
784:Related
571:OneZero
214:Reviews
107:" is a
51:English
776:, 2019
768:, 2002
537:11 May
515:11 May
489:11 May
443:11 May
417:11 May
389:11 May
363:11 May
335:11 May
228:Awards
185:to be
235:Place
833:stub
539:2021
517:2021
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88:Book
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
