Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom - by Tara Seshan
worktopia.substack.com · 534 words · saved by 1 readers
Character is a moving average of our actions
Lee Krasner, “Portrait in Green” (1966) My favorite Ted Chiang story is called “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom.” I have thought about it at least once a week for the past 4 years. In the story, characters can interact with a “prism”, a device that allows you to FaceTime with yourself in an alternate universe. There is an elaborate (maybe plausible?) scientific explanation for why this works. Practically, this means that anyone can pay to communicate with their alternative self. The characters in the story find this possibility intriguing. They want answers to “what if” questions that…
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