“Chinese Room Thought Experiment” ITF Read & Watch: After Yang (2010 short story & 2022 film)

Filmmaker Kogonada adapts a heady sci-fi story written by Alexander Weinstein into a thoughtful, melancholic piece about the nature of existence, artificial intelligence, and the ethics of personhood. In episode 241, Luke & James consider the “Chinese Room thought experiment,” debate Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, the power of immigrants being able to name themselves, the opening credit dance, depression in a relative utopia, Colin Farrell's lack of emotion, the difference between written and video essays, and the value of historical preservation vs. violating privacy. They end by casting their votes on which was better: the short story or the movie! References

• Reckoning 6 (contains Luke Elliott’s short story “What Good is a Sad Backhoe”)
• Unnamed by Monte Lin

Ink to Film

• Buy Children of the New World or any of the other source materials at Ink to Film's bookshop: www.bookshop.org/shop/inktofilm
• Ink to Film's Twitter, Facebook, Instagram (@inktofilm)
• Home Base: inktofilm.com
• Intro/outro music: “No Winners” by Ross Bugden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qk-vZ1qicI

Luke Elliott

• Website: www.lukeelliottauthor.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/luminousluke
• IG: https://www.instagram.com/lpelliott/

James Bailey

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jame_Bail