Exhalation (short story)

"Exhalation" is a science fiction short story by Ted Chiang. It was first published in 2008 in the anthology Eclipse 2: New Science Fiction and Fantas, edited by Jonathan Strahan. It won the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.^[2]

Plot

The story is epistolary in nature, taking the form of a scientist's journal entry. The scientist is a member of a race of air-driven mechanical beings. The race obtains air from swappable lungs filled with pressurized air from underground. When it is realized that a number of clocks simultaneously appear to be running fast but they do not appear to be malfunctioning, the narrator decides to explore the explanation that people's brains are computing slower.

The scientist dissects their own brain, and discovers that it operates based on the movement of air through gold leaves. The scientist hypothesizes that people's brains are computing slower because air is passing through slower because the atmospheric pressure is rising. As people pump air from underground, they increase the air pressure above ground. The scientist realizes that eventually, when the air pressure is the same above and below ground, all computation and time itself will cease. (The hypothesis is confirmed and becomes mainstream.) They ponder the possible existence of other universes, and how the stasis from equilibrium is the fate of all universes. They conclude that though equilibrium is inevitable, the beauty of life and civilization isn't and is a miracle.

Footnotes

External links

• Full text of story - HTML document at Night Shade Books.
• Audio version of Exhalation read by Tom Dheere
• Audio podcast of the story published by Escape Pod.