The Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study (NDIAS) is bringing Ted Chiang, award-winning science fiction writer, to campus for a public lecture entitled "Do You Really Want to Live Forever?"

In his lecture, Chiang will explore the ethics of immortality research—which, he notes, is being funded by the ultra wealthy, who are often some of the worst people in the world. That naturally raises the question of whether or not you want to spend eternity with people like that. But it also raises another question: Does wanting the same thing they want make you a bad person, too?

During the 2020-2021 academic year, Chiang joined NDIAS as an Artist in Residence as part of the "Nature of Trust" project, and has continued his relationship with the Institute. His work has won four Nebula awards and four Hugo awards. His work often focuses on issues in technology, including artificial intelligence. In 2023, Chiang was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in AI. His critically-acclaimed short stories include “Tower of Babylon” and “Story of Your Life,” which was adapted into the science fiction film Arrival. Exhalation, his second collection of short stories, was named one of the Top Ten Books of 2019 by the New York Times Book Review.

This event is free and open to the public.