I get to use fiction as a way to work out my thinking and to delight readers in the process. I can't think of any deal that's better for me, and I'm always so grateful that readers have indulged me as I argue with myself in my stories.
Ken LiuRead
In creating the silkpunk aesthetic, I was influenced by the ideas of W. Brian Arthur, who articulates a vision of technology as a language.
Interpretation
The silkpunk aesthetic blends art and technology, viewing tech as a form of expression.
Ken Liu's quote reflects his inspiration from W. Brian Arthur's perspective that technology can be perceived as a language. The silkpunk aesthetic he creates is an artistic expression that intertwines traditional values and contemporary technologies, showcasing the beauty and function of technological innovation as a form of communication and cultural identity.
In practice
During a presentation about cultural integration, you could quote this to highlight the intersection of technology and art.
I get to use fiction as a way to work out my thinking and to delight readers in the process. I can't think of any deal that's better for me, and I'm always so grateful that readers have indulged me as I argue with myself in my stories.
As a species, we tend to live in environments where our own artifacts dominate. The way we shape our environment and are in turn shaped by it is a key theme in my fiction - indeed, it's a key part of a great deal of science fiction.
There are so many different narrative traditions across the world, and each of those traditions has evolved dramatically over time. Once I understood that, I felt truly free; I could write and invent the way I wanted to because there never has been only one way to tell a good story.
The truth is not delicate and it does not suffer from denialβthe truth only dies when true stories are untold.
Labels like 'Chinese Science Fiction' or 'Western Science Fiction' summarize a vast field of work, all of which are diverse and driven by individual authors, with individual concerns.
I think that what's unique about sci-fi - at least from the view of a lot of Chinese writers - is that sci-fi is least-rooted in the particular culture that they're writing from.
When I was a kid I drew like Michelangelo. It took me years to learn to draw like a kid.
The muse whispers to you when she chooses, and you can't tell her to come back later, because you quickly learn in this business that she might not come back at all.
Painting is about the world that we live in. Black men live in the world. My choice is to include them.
If you are killed because you are a writer, that's the maximum expression of respect, you know.
The accidents of my life have given me the ability to make stories in which different parts of the world are brought together, sometimes harmoniously, sometimes in conflict, and sometimes both - usually both. The difficulty in these stories is that if you write about everywhere you can end up writing about nowhere.
Poetry must be human. If it is not human, it is not poetry.
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