Omphalos

by Ted Chiang

Dr. Dorothea Morrell is an archaeologist working on a dig in Arisona. She is scheduled to give a public lecture in the Chicagou area on how tree rings and other artifacts date the creation, which goes well, but afterward she finds evidence of the illegal sale of museum relics.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction

Unknown Binding

First published May 7, 2019

About the author

Ted Chiang is an American science fiction writer. His Chinese name is Chiang Feng-nan. He graduated from Brown University with a Computer Science degree. He currently works as a technical writer in the software industry and resides in Bellevue, near Seattle, Washington. He is a graduate of the noted Clarion Writers Workshop (1989) and has been an instructor for it (2012, 2016). Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker, where he writes on topics related to computing such as artificial intelligence.

Chiang has published 18 short stories, to date, and most of them have won prestigious speculative fiction awards - including multiple Nebula Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, and British Science Fiction Association Awards, among others. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the film Arrival (2016). He has never written a novel but is one of the most decorated science fiction writers currently working.

Chiang's first eight stories are collected in "Stories of Your Life, and Others" and the next nine, in "Exhalation: Stories".

Reviews

[Deepu Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good thinking and ideas and some new technology stuff I didn’t know about like growth ring and mummies without navel et cetera

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, some of this author's strongest stories are the ones that blend faith and science, as they always lead to such thought-provoking concepts! This one follows a young scientist in a world that was actually created ~8000 years ago by a "God", and what happens when a scientific discovery comes out that implies this Earth was not actually God's main focus/objective. I enjoyed the style and narrator here, and the concept had me absolutely riveted.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author may have read Straw Dogs.

[Roslyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Varnavas Flourentzou · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

[Kireth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

This was a difficult one to complete and rate, simply because to me the conclusion felt like Chiang's message of support for atheism. Obviously this then becomes a deeply personal read that will likely be a different experience from reader to reader.

The plot is rather straightforward as archeologist Dorothea Morrell shares her experiences at the end of each day in prayer/ conversation with God. On an Earth with Chicagou among other places creationism is scientifically proven through the growth rings in trees and lack of navels in the mummified preservations of primordial humans. However when a profound paper is published in astrology, a field long thought to be completely exhausted, Dorothea among other devout religious individuals are left to question their creator's grand design, and whether they are even a central part of it.

In an almost inversion of Hell is the Absence of God, Chiang effectively justifies an atheist worldview by discarding a universal creator and instead stating that volition (free will) is evidence of our own individual divinity, free from a plan. This was my reading of the story, though I would be curious to hear others as articles online range from agreeance to seeing that Chiang is more widely criticising anyone who believes in there being no free will. Despite all this, I appreciate Chiang's efforts to push different ways of thinking forward in his texts that could be seen to contradict one another but from a wider view just ensure that he has a story for every person out there. The question is, is this one right for you?

[Lucas Donaldson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chiang has a good track record of writing stories about religion, and I found this one very fascinating as well. I like the concept of a major revelation that alters the established understanding within society.

[Amir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as a part of

Liked it more than I thought I would initially. Wish it were longer and kept going to show more of what happened. It was cool to see Religion vs. Science in a universe where all the science points to a set creation date. (learned a new word: primordial)

I wish it went more in the direction of Last Thursdayism

Also interestingly the Omphalos hypothesis is a real hypothesis originating in a 1800's book:
Omphalos

[Storm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collected in Exhalation. In this epistolary short story, Archaeologist Dorothea Morrell discovers what appears to be the sale of illegally obtained archeological artifacts. However after confronting the young criminal she discovers all she thought she knew about Young Earth creationism in the world she lives in might be false.


I will admit I did not enjoy this as much as Ted Chiang's other works. Not because of the religious aspects, the science and the philosophy, but because the protagonist was quite unlikable and came across like one of those women society now loves to hate.
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[Adel · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Ted Chiang's collection in Exhalation:

I love science fiction that makes you think it's actually real. From growth rings to navel-less mummies and the concept that God did not give us any purpose in life. Just bordering absurdity and skepticism!!

And the whole time I was reading this short story made it like I was praying for the first time since ever! The last line was really profound too; "This search is my purpose; not because you chose it for me, Lord, but because I chose it for myself. Amen."

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not certain the author does not share my concerns over our supposed ability to date objects by various inference. Not just tree rings (which assume our year remained constant; is there evidence it did). Our radio-isomer dating which assumes the ratios of elements and dependent radioactive decay remained constant or the ratios of nature remained constant. e.g. atomic bomb blew up idea. But why some who are faithful religious want science affirmations or science wants to discredit religion based on necessity are both Stupid. QED

[Klowey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2*

This story got better as it went on. As an atheist I wondered when I first began reading this story if I would like it. But I found the end intriguing as a thought process of a creationist as she questioned it, especially the comment about prayer not changing what God would do, but changing what the person praying would do. Chiang also questions free will, determinism, and meaning in life in many of his stories, and this is one of them.

[Killthehumans Savetheforest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yup. Good.

[Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absurdism at its finest

[Kiya · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Class Read*

I thought the conversation on free will was really interesting!

[Yawen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free will is the miracle itself

[Forked Radish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this story and especially the writer’s comments at the end, show that Chiang is just a Scientism acolyte with no real understanding of science whatsoever.

[Raimo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars.

Definitely an intriguing premise, but not as gripping as some of Chiang's other stories.

[Sheida Mousavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

[Ceecee]

I think Chiang is a strong writer when it comes to incorporating religion and science to speculate about our place in the universe. like in "stories of your life", he speaks about languages and free will. i found it completely relatable, being brought up in a religious community but studying in a scientific community, and on drawing my own conclusions.

5 stars because chiang managed to create a vivid alternative universe that was effortlessly believable while talking about religion, science and humanity.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe my goated short story of all time