“Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” by Ted Chiang (collected in “Exhalation: Stories”)

Placing “Anxiety” at the very end means the reader should know its story of parallel dimensions isn’t going in the most obvious and destructive paths, and the wonder of where it’s actually going justifies its elaborate setup. That Chiang focuses on the most empathic route is not surprising, but it’s how he wrenches meaning from his plot devices that makes this among the most thoughtful stories of an outstanding collection. I’ve heard it suggested that this could be the next “Arrival”, and while there’d need to be more story beats to make a whole feature, I’d be down for that.

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