Ken Liu (http://kenliu.name) is an American author of speculative fiction. He has won the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards, as well as top genre honors in Japan, Spain, and France, among other places.
Ken's debut novel, The Grace of Kings, is the first volume in a silkpunk epic fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty, in which engineers play the role of wizards. His debut collection, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, has been published in more than a dozen languages. He also wrote the Star Wars novel, The Legends of Luke Skywalker.
He has been involved in multiple media adaptations of his work. The most recent projects include “The Message,” under development by 21 Laps and FilmNation Entertainment; “Good Hunting,” adapted as an episode of Netflix's breakout adult animated series Love, Death + Robots; and AMC's Pantheon, which Craig Silverstein will executive produce, adapted from an interconnected series of short stories by Ken.
Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Ken worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. Ken frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, cryptocurrency, history of technology, bookmaking, the mathematics of origami, and other subjects of his expertise.
Ken is also the translator for Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem, Hao Jingfang's Vagabonds, Chen Qiufan's Waste Tide, as well as the editor of Invisible Planets and Broken Stars, anthologies of contemporary Chinese science fiction.
He lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.
It's a very quick read, yes—but don't be fooled by its shortness, as Ken Liu has managed to produce a potent emotional recipe in such a short amount of words. Think Her meets parts of Westworld meets Deus Ex Machina, only in a very tight and condensed piece of the AI puzzle.
Holy shit!! This was amazing and terrifying. The theme of not being able to discern what’s real and what’s virtual is so powerful. Incredible short story.
"Substitute "processor" for the clerks and substitute "program" for the books of rules, then you'll see that the Turing Test will never prove anything, and Al is an illusion.
But you can also carry the Chinese Room Argument the other way: substitute "neurons" for the clerks and substitute the physical laws governing the cascading of activating potentials for the books of rules; then how can any of us ever be said to "understand" anything? Thought is an illusion."
Grief, loss, love and algorithms,... what can I say? You can feel Elena's pain, feel how lost she is, how much harm she inflicts to herself and the ones that love her. Another great short by Liu.
Il racconto parla in modo molto originale del tema dell'elaborazione del lutto, perché lo fa parlando di intelligenza artificiale... non posso dire di più perché sarebbe spoiler. E' un racconto triste, doloroso, ma molto ben scritto, articolato, completo e profondo nella sua brevità, che ha saputo catturare la mia attenzione sin dalle prime righe. Veramente molto interessante. Peccato solo che dell'autore non sia stato tradotto molto poco in italiano... Metto comunque in wishlist quel poco che ho trovato.
Ken Liu's writing, as always, is beautiful to read. Despite the length the characters are well developed and alive, the story itself is poignant.
However, while seemingly thought-provoking, the story is treading on the familiar debate of free will, and does not do a great job of exploring the issue. For those unfamiliar with the discussion, the story is quite interesting, but I can't help but lament at a lost opportunity for delving into a more realistic portrayal of interesting issues.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I find that the short story medium works very well with speculative fiction, especially when it has some sci-fi elements. With fantasy it’s more difficult to establish a world and have room for enough plot or intrigue. Some times one has to be sacrificed for the other.
This is the 5th short story I read by Liu, and I have to say I’m having a great time. The bar was set quite high, since my entry to this world was via reading everything Ted Chiang has published. But Ken Liu is also knowledgeable in his work, and even took some inspiration for his own short fiction.
I loved the “hidden” underlaying dialogue with Ted Chiang’s work. Very reminiscent of ‘understand’ and ‘diversion by zero’ mixed in with a smidge of ‘the lifecycle of software objects”.
Good dialogue about what life is, is our life just meaningless algorithm performed by a body (and what about a soul) that doesn’t understand any of it. I like analogy of human life with machines. Another great text about the human condition
I appreciate that there’s no happy ending, just an ending. It was a bit confusing to sort together since it has a non-linear story telling.
No time period is explicitly stated, but you can tell that it is quite a product of its time, in regards to the physical technology of the dolls. But the rest, computer science, the philosophical and theoretical implications are on spot. I might have a bit of disagreement with the last paragraph about the Turing test, I believe there’s no requirement to understand anything, the program just needs to appear to possess a human level intelligence and socializing skills in order to pass it.
I just want to point out, that like I was saying in my last short story review, this one is also centered around a woman’s traumatic story. This one isn’t shallow at all, but still I’m noticing how this trope is so prevalent in the genre.
4.5/5 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Do Androids dreams of Electric Sheep with better feelings... Ex Machina without that seen-a-million-times ending... As good as Her...
At the I'm not sure Elena didn't kill herself and made an android that was her perfect copy.
One of the biggest problem of SF, in my opinion, is to find a new way to exploit overused concept like A.I. or time-travel. And this is pretty well done here. Not entirely new, but damn, it is perfect.
The narrative in this story is so haunting with its lyricism that I can't get over it. The ideas presented in the book are so thought-provoking that they stick with me even on a subconscious level, as afterthoughts, or echoes of some unknown inquiry that begs to be listened to. In short, this story is a must - to read and ponder.
Are we truly real or just programmed creatures? A designer and programmer of lifelike dolls becomes convinced that we are just that, programmed to react to certain words and situations.
This is something that certain scientists have dabbled in, along with being a virtual reality program. Talk about creepy! Shivers. 4.5 out of 5.
*trigger warning definitely needed!* this contemporary science fiction story is waaaaay too real about how technological advancements can affect our mental health & intersect with our personal lives‼️but also liu’s narration reminded me of a 2004-esk “the yellow wallpaper” by charlotte perkins gilman (which is my fav short story)
Снятся ли андроидам электроовцы с человеческим лицом? Очень мягко, многослойно и в то же время увлекательно написано - авторский стиль видно уже тогда. Финал чуть проседает, но это обычное дело в подобных философских темах.
Truly one of the most beautiful short stories I’ve ever read. Perfectly captures the theme of raw human emotion and how it separates us from creation of trying to replicate that rawness.