This is exactly the posture of the protagonist created by Chiang (who, as a science fiction author, is quite dedicated to be scientifically credible and correct): the archaeologist Dorothea Morrell. In fact, what Gosse wanted to do is to explain the origin of everything after the biblical narrative, though this time using a more scientific approach to support the Biblical premise in the most rational and empirical way. It is in this book that he develops the Omphalos hypothesis, that is, a hypothesis in which we understand that this physical world where we live is just an illusion created by God. In the short story, Chiang reflects on the theme explored in the book “Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot” (1857), written by Philip Henry Gosse. In Greek, the term means “navel,” but it is also related to an artifact that addresses the world’s creation epicenter. Maybe because I’m already used to his writing style or perhaps because this collection is truly better than “Stories of Your Life and Others,” I found in this book some very intriguing stories, especially “Omphalos”. Winner of the 1974 Pulitzer prize, the book was written by a cultural anthropologist and not a psychoanalyst, but the content is mostly based on a historical and semiotic analysis supported by authors such as Kierkegaard, Freud, Rank or even Nietzsche, who also dealt with this particular human ability to be conscious about his own death.Īfter finishing this book, I read Ted Chiang’s “Exhalation” collection of short stories. By chance, I learned about this book, “The Denial of Death”, by Ernest Becker, in a lecture that had nothing to do with its subject, but it was nevertheless mentioned there and so it became my next read.

So I have been reading a lot of stuff about the consciousness of death, how men deal with this from philosophical, artistic, and psychoanalytical perspectives. Who gave me this advice was a mentor I had as an undergraduate researcher, but it remains valid even today while I’m finishing my thesis about the human attempt to survive death through imagery and memory.

We can see our research theme everywhere, even when there is no connection. One of the best advises I ever received was this: when we are studying something, it feels like the subject is always following us. What would you do if it was scientifically proven that God does not exist?Īrticle originally published at TAB UOL, in Portuguese.ĭisclaimer: This text has spoilers of Ted Chiang’s short story “Omphalos”.

Ted chiang omphalos