(Audio Fixed!!) Ken Liu on AI, Daoism, and Freedom

(Audio Fixed!!) Ken Liu on AI, Daoism, and Freedom

From ChinaTalk by Jordan Schneider

May 7, 2026 · 1h 18m

About this episode

Ken Liu discusses the intersection of AI, Daoism, and the nature of art and technology.

Ken Liu graces ChinaTalk with his presence. He is the author of the Dandelion Dynasty silkpunk fantasy series and a brilliant short fiction writer — one of his stories was recently adapted into Sam Altman’s favorite show, Pantheon. We all know his translation work on the first and third volumes of the Three-Body Problem trilogy, but even better was his absolutely brilliant translation and commentary of the Dao De Jing. As much as I hoped that project would get him fully on the classical Chinese translation train, he followed it up with a very different direction — a techno-AI thriller, All That We See or Seem, released late last year. Irene Zhang of ChinaTalk joins us to co-host. In a wide-ranging conversation, Ken Liu argues that: Technology is the most human thing we do — humans have always externalized our minds into the world and then allowed those creations to reshape who we are. AI “slop” won’t stop humans from making art that matters, and the real distinction isn’t quality versus slop, but between desire-fulfilling machines and artists who draw from the collective unconscious. The deeper danger of AI isn’t machines replacing humans, but systems that train humans to behave…

People in this episode

Host: Jordan Schneider

Guest: Ken Liu

Topics covered

  • AI
  • Daoism
  • freedom
  • technology
  • art
  • science fiction

Keywords

  • AI
  • Daoism
  • Ken Liu
  • art
  • technology
  • science fiction
  • Dandelion Dynasty
  • Three-Body Problem

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Dandelion Dynasty, Three-Body Problem, Dao De Jing, All That We See or Seem, Pantheon

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