Ken Liu, Writer

Author of The Grace of Kings and The Paper Menagerie

Ken

Modeling the Mind

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Adam Gopnik, “The Information,” New Yorker, Feb 14 & 21, 2011:

…at any given moment, our most complicated machine will be taken as a model of human intelligence … When there were automatic looms, the mind was like an automatic loom … When there were telephone exchanges, the mind was like a telephone exchange … When mainframe computers arrived … the mind was like a mainframe… Some machine is always showing us Mind…

“Algorithms for Love”:

People have always associated the mind with the technological fad of the moment. When they believed in witches and spirits, they thought there was a little man in the brain. When they had mechanical looms and player pianos, they thought the brain was an engine. When they had telegraphs and telephones, they thought the brain was a wire network. Now you think the brain is just a computer.

I guess I’m an Ever-Waser.

Family

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The moment when you can see your grandparents’ features in your child’s face is amazing.

Esther

The human race endures.

Simulacrum Is Out at Lightspeed

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My story, “Simulacrum,” is out at Lightspeed.

  • read the story
  • listen to it performed by Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki
  • read an interview of me by Christie Yant

And I’m working on a secret project involving this story. More details when I can announce them.

The Mac Chimney

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From Leander Kahney, Inside Steve’s Brain, page 234:

Mac chimney

Not one of Jobs’s better decisions, but it does show that his intention is to put customer experience above all else. (Of course, machines overheating and dying are also bad for the customer experience, but he probably thought engineers were exaggerating the problem.)

Cover Art

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Thought I’d post the cover art for two magazines with my stories in them. Really beautiful pieces, and I’m thrilled to be associated with them.

The January issue of Clarkesworld (“Tying Knots” is in it).

Clarkesworld cover

And the February issue of Lightspeed (“Simulacrum” is in it — scheduled for February 15).

Lightspeed cover