Design System Page
7/27/2025: “Bloodchild” by Octavia Butler (1995)
July 27th: Bloodchild by Octavia Butler (1995)
7/13/2025: “Dream Cargoes” by J.G. Ballard (1990)
Dream Cargoes by J.G. Ballard (1990) (The story starts on p. 974)
6/22/2025: “Beyond Lies the Wub” by Philip K. Dick (1952)
Full text: Beyond Lies the Wub by Philip K. Dick (1952)
6/8/2025: “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin (1973)
This is a very short yet powerful read – more of a fictional essay than your typical short story. Le Guin describes an almost perfect society whose well-being comes at a cost. Some main themes are: utopias, utilitarianism, “the trolley problem” thought experiment, moral responsibility, inequality, capitalism, exploitation and slavery. Full text: The Ones Who […]
5/25/2025: “Crystal Nights” by Greg Egan
Full text: https://gregegan.net/MISC/CRYSTAL/Crystal.html
5/11/2025: “The Nine Billion Names of God” by Arthur C. Clarke
Full text: https://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/WRIT510/readings/The%20Nine%20Billion%20Names%20of%20God.pdf
4/27/2025: “Exhalation” by Ted Chiang
Here’s a gorgeously crafted tale from the modern scifi short story master Ted Chiang. Written from the first-person point of view of a mechanical being who performs a self-examination to find out how his brain works and how consciousness is achieved. Full text: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/exhalation/
4/13/2025: “The Gentle Seduction” by Marc Stiegler
Full text: http://skyhunter.com/marcs/GentleSeduction.html
3/23/2025: “The City” by Ray Bradbury
Published in Bradbury’s classic collection “The Illustrated Man” in 1951, this is a dark, poetic tale about revenge, memory, and the consequences of conquest. It follows a group of Earth astronauts who land on a seemingly lifeless, ancient city on a distant planet. As they explore, they realize the city is not just a collection […]