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The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling
In the near future, a journalist observes how the world, his daughter, and he himself are affected by "Remem", a form of lifelogging whose advanced search algorithms effectively grant its users eidetic memory of everything that ever happened to them, and the ability to perfectly and objectively share those memories. In a parallel narrative strand, a Tiv man is one of the first of his people to learn to read and write and discovers that this may not be compatible with oral tradition.
46 pages
Published January 1, 2013
About the author
Ted Chiang
105 books9,659 followersTed Chiang is an American speculative 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).
Although not a prolific author, having published only eleven short stories as of 2009, Chiang has to date won a string of prestigious speculative fiction awards for his works: a Nebula Award for "Tower of Babylon" (1990), the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992, a Nebula Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for "Story of Your Life" (1998), a Sidewise Award for "Seventy-Two Letters" (2000), a Nebula Award, Locus Award and Hugo Award for his novelette "Hell Is the Absence of God" (2002), a Nebula and Hugo Award for his novelette "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (2007), and a British Science Fiction Association Award, a Locus Award, and the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Exhalation" (2009).
Chiang turned down a Hugo nomination for his short story "Liking What You See: A Documentary" in 2003, on the grounds that the story was rushed due to editorial pressure and did not turn out as he had really wanted.
Chiang's first eight stories are collected in "Stories of Your Life, and Others" (1st US hardcover ed: ISBN 0-7653-0418-X; 1st US paperback ed.: ISBN 0-7653-0419-8). His novelette "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" was also published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
As of 2013, his short fiction has won four Nebula Awards, three Hugo Awards, the John W Campbell Award, three Locus Awards, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award. He has never written a novel but is one of the most decorated science fiction writers currently working.
Although not a prolific author, having published only eleven short stories as of 2009, Chiang has to date won a string of prestigious speculative fiction awards for his works: a Nebula Award for "Tower of Babylon" (1990), the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992, a Nebula Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for "Story of Your Life" (1998), a Sidewise Award for "Seventy-Two Letters" (2000), a Nebula Award, Locus Award and Hugo Award for his novelette "Hell Is the Absence of God" (2002), a Nebula and Hugo Award for his novelette "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (2007), and a British Science Fiction Association Award, a Locus Award, and the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Exhalation" (2009).
Chiang turned down a Hugo nomination for his short story "Liking What You See: A Documentary" in 2003, on the grounds that the story was rushed due to editorial pressure and did not turn out as he had really wanted.
Chiang's first eight stories are collected in "Stories of Your Life, and Others" (1st US hardcover ed: ISBN 0-7653-0418-X; 1st US paperback ed.: ISBN 0-7653-0419-8). His novelette "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" was also published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
As of 2013, his short fiction has won four Nebula Awards, three Hugo Awards, the John W Campbell Award, three Locus Awards, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award. He has never written a novel but is one of the most decorated science fiction writers currently working.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
January 2, 2024
Very Black Mirror
December 17, 2023
Ted Chiang's best short story yet. A powerful cross-cultural examination of many facets of the human condition. The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling is actually made up of two concurrent stories. The first occurs in the near-future where a journalist is questioning the effects of an additional technology to the "lifelogs" that most people wear - instead of just recording moments from your life, Remem allows individuals to search and automatically locate specific moments from their lengthy video volumes. At first discussing its effects on wider society, his usage of Remem causes the article to be entangled with his personal life, especially his relationship with his daughter. In an almost opposite manner, Jijingi is a young Tiv man with close personal ties who begins learning how to write when European missionaries arrive in his village. As he grows he comes to understand the differences between written details and oral tales, and which is better for his people.
Chiang explores a vast range of themes, smartly using them to unify the two disparate tales as he alternates perspective. The clearest idea being explored is the truth of our memories; as humans we attempt to chop, change and highlight a certain range of moments from our past, sometimes without realising it. Whether they are truthful or not, we are drawn to the notion of storytelling and therefore our personal history tends to fit a narrative structure, making me realise how incredibly vain we can be (even with good intentions). Extrapolating from this, Chiang explores what makes a good story - is it the consistency of the words, intonation of a speaker or a combination of both? And perhaps most importantly, what happens when we sacrifice or prioritise the truth?
The use of different time periods and settings accentuates the fact that these are universal aspects of the human condition. Chiang describes common childhood situation, relationship disputes (especially between married couples, and parents and children), corporations and religious institutions, all the while respecting the African culture depicted. These do not just act as examples for the psychological discussion he puts forward on searchable lifelogging, but are actively explored through the believable characters he has written.
Overall, it is hard to pick between this and Liking What You See: A Documentary as my favourites from Chiang's works. Both explore a collective social issue due highlighted through a new technology in smart and nuanced ways, and with great writing of perspectives to boot. However, I still have three stories left in the Exhalation collection, so this brace may be added to!
Read all my thoughts on Ted Chiang's Two Collections: Stories of Your Life and Exhalation linked here.
Chiang explores a vast range of themes, smartly using them to unify the two disparate tales as he alternates perspective. The clearest idea being explored is the truth of our memories; as humans we attempt to chop, change and highlight a certain range of moments from our past, sometimes without realising it. Whether they are truthful or not, we are drawn to the notion of storytelling and therefore our personal history tends to fit a narrative structure, making me realise how incredibly vain we can be (even with good intentions). Extrapolating from this, Chiang explores what makes a good story - is it the consistency of the words, intonation of a speaker or a combination of both? And perhaps most importantly, what happens when we sacrifice or prioritise the truth?
The use of different time periods and settings accentuates the fact that these are universal aspects of the human condition. Chiang describes common childhood situation, relationship disputes (especially between married couples, and parents and children), corporations and religious institutions, all the while respecting the African culture depicted. These do not just act as examples for the psychological discussion he puts forward on searchable lifelogging, but are actively explored through the believable characters he has written.
Overall, it is hard to pick between this and Liking What You See: A Documentary as my favourites from Chiang's works. Both explore a collective social issue due highlighted through a new technology in smart and nuanced ways, and with great writing of perspectives to boot. However, I still have three stories left in the Exhalation collection, so this brace may be added to!
Read all my thoughts on Ted Chiang's Two Collections: Stories of Your Life and Exhalation linked here.
April 7, 2024
Surprisingly moving piece set up as an article about a new piece of technology that will allow you to pull up video from your "lifelogs" as a sort of automatic digital memory. The author starts as against this new tech until he realizes he'd misremembered key events from his past. The change in opinion and the relationship with his daughter added a lovely emotional component, and this was as thought-provoking as ever. Its entwined with a story in an African village where a Westerner brings the concept of writing to an entirely oral-based tribe. Each of the two story threads were incredibly vivid, and the way they played off of and reinforced so many various themes was seriously impressive.
June 17, 2021
My favorite of Ted Chiang's so far.
November 23, 2021
Narration took it's time to get to the point . Which dulls the experience overall .
January 29, 2022
Stunning. This was extraordinary. I would rate this as one of his best stories. When I finished the last word, I was left speechless.
August 6, 2023
'The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling' by Ted Chiang.
Rating: 3.25/5.
Review:
The deeper I get into Ted Chiang's short stories in the 'Exhalation' anthology, the less impressed I get with the content. It might be a purely subjective opinion, but I do believe that the best of Ted Chiang's short stories were compiled at the start of this collection.
'The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling' is an insightful piece that works solely because of its premise. Ted Chiang alternates between two different narratives from two different time periods. By taking a real historical concern for the effects of technological progress on the human mind, the author proficiently extrapolated it to apply the same concept to a not-so-impossible technology in the near future. Ted Chiang does draw an interesting parallel between the integration of writing in a historical society that leans more on oral narration, and the integration of the Remem technology into the futuristic society that grants access to every precise memory to the user right from birth.
The alternating perspectives take some time to get to the point which makes the narrative drag to some extent. Furthermore, the narrator does end up getting too preachy towards the end which made the story hard to digest. The concepts explored in this short story were great nonetheless. It was cleanly written with some sharp observations, but it felt far too bland to be relished as a story. It does, however, give the reader a lot to think about, so I'm sure I might end up enjoying this short story more when I return to it a few years later.
People are made of stories. Our memories are not the impartial accumulation of every second we’ve lived; they’re the narrative that we assembled out of selected moments. Which is why, even when we’ve experienced the same events as other individuals, we never constructed identical narratives: the criteria used for selecting moments were different for each of us, and a reflection of our personalities. Each of us noticed the details that caught our attention and remembered what was important to us, and the narratives we built shaped our personalities in turn.
Rating: 3.25/5.
Review:
The deeper I get into Ted Chiang's short stories in the 'Exhalation' anthology, the less impressed I get with the content. It might be a purely subjective opinion, but I do believe that the best of Ted Chiang's short stories were compiled at the start of this collection.
'The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling' is an insightful piece that works solely because of its premise. Ted Chiang alternates between two different narratives from two different time periods. By taking a real historical concern for the effects of technological progress on the human mind, the author proficiently extrapolated it to apply the same concept to a not-so-impossible technology in the near future. Ted Chiang does draw an interesting parallel between the integration of writing in a historical society that leans more on oral narration, and the integration of the Remem technology into the futuristic society that grants access to every precise memory to the user right from birth.
The alternating perspectives take some time to get to the point which makes the narrative drag to some extent. Furthermore, the narrator does end up getting too preachy towards the end which made the story hard to digest. The concepts explored in this short story were great nonetheless. It was cleanly written with some sharp observations, but it felt far too bland to be relished as a story. It does, however, give the reader a lot to think about, so I'm sure I might end up enjoying this short story more when I return to it a few years later.
November 8, 2023
Read for school, very short. Kinda okay.
November 2, 2021
An interesting inquiry into what role our ability to forget plays in our lives. With the advent of technology that captures everything in verbatim, we might be overlooking some of the benefits of not remembering. There might a be a good evolutionary reason for that.
September 1, 2022
Collected in Exhalation, this Hugo nominated short story is a thought provoking examination of the truth behind what is fact versus feelings, and how facts can change when "recorded" depending on a person's perception and interpretation. The framing device used here is two separate stories in different time periods that entwine at the end with one message.
The first is the near future. A journalist contemplates how "Remem", a form of lifelogging whose advanced search algorithms effectively grant its users eidetic memory of everything that ever happened to them, and the ability to perfectly and objectively share those memories affects the world. The law has vastly changed since it can now determine the truth of what happens, and a ton of human arguments are rendered moot. I can't even tell you how many relationships or marriages would be ruined by one-upmanship granted by the use of such technology and ensuing
The other narrative is set in the past. A Tiv man learns how to read and write from a missionary, who says recording facts is good as this enables one to hand down a record of what happened in the past, plus it's useful when spreading their religion. Pretty soon he realizes writing with its "Dry Facts" is incompatible with oral tradition where interpretation is part of the storyteller's craft.
This is a slow, but wonderful big picture thinking themed story. Consider these concepts:-
1. History is written by the winners, who can control the narrative. It may be true, it might not be true, it really depends how the writer felt at that time.
2. The writer's interpretation changes what is written. Religious texts like the Bible have NUMEROUS versions. Are they faithful to the original despite being a "written" record? How much interpretation is added in because the writers were historically male? Would many religions be as sexist if women had been the ones writing the texts instead?
Heirarchy wise, it is clear. For Facts, a visual memory record provided by re-mem is THE ultimate truth, greater than written accounts, and even more so than oral tradition.
Feelings though, are a completely different, subjective thing. At the end of the day, is the ability to record and remember everything a good thing? Because frankly it's not easy, considering there will be people who struggle with the truth.
The first is the near future. A journalist contemplates how "Remem", a form of lifelogging whose advanced search algorithms effectively grant its users eidetic memory of everything that ever happened to them, and the ability to perfectly and objectively share those memories affects the world. The law has vastly changed since it can now determine the truth of what happens, and a ton of human arguments are rendered moot. I can't even tell you how many relationships or marriages would be ruined by one-upmanship granted by the use of such technology and ensuing
The other narrative is set in the past. A Tiv man learns how to read and write from a missionary, who says recording facts is good as this enables one to hand down a record of what happened in the past, plus it's useful when spreading their religion. Pretty soon he realizes writing with its "Dry Facts" is incompatible with oral tradition where interpretation is part of the storyteller's craft.
This is a slow, but wonderful big picture thinking themed story. Consider these concepts:-
1. History is written by the winners, who can control the narrative. It may be true, it might not be true, it really depends how the writer felt at that time.
2. The writer's interpretation changes what is written. Religious texts like the Bible have NUMEROUS versions. Are they faithful to the original despite being a "written" record? How much interpretation is added in because the writers were historically male? Would many religions be as sexist if women had been the ones writing the texts instead?
Heirarchy wise, it is clear. For Facts, a visual memory record provided by re-mem is THE ultimate truth, greater than written accounts, and even more so than oral tradition.
Feelings though, are a completely different, subjective thing. At the end of the day, is the ability to record and remember everything a good thing? Because frankly it's not easy, considering there will be people who struggle with the truth.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2021
I want to point out there were a few written languages in africa (like nsibidi n is now called Nigeria), anyway an interesting story.
May 4, 2023
Que cuento tan espectacular de verdad, nunca nos imaginamos lo importante que es definir palabra hasta que nos lo proponemos. Bueno, creo que genuinamente el paralelismo de ambas historias habla de lo que tomamos por verdad y lo subjetiva que debe de ser. Amé con todo el corazón el cuento ♥️
September 4, 2021
One of the best short stories I've read.
July 20, 2023
A lovely, insightful piece of humanist sci-fi. Being only my second piece by Chiang he seems to have a knack for drawing emotionally resonant stories from his sci-fi premises. Stories that are grounded in character and surface questions about the human experience.
I love this piece for it's premise. Taking a real actual and historical concern for the affects of technological advancements on the human mind and extrapolating forward to a not impossible future. How would having digitally augmented eyes and memory change the way we live?
But even more interesting is the philosophical questions this piece flirts with. Reminiscent of Susan Sontag's work on photography and objective reality. What is the difference between truth "vough" and Truth "mimi". Even if objective truth were achievable would it be desirable?
The split narrative structure smartly draws parallels between the integration of Remem into the present society, and the integration of writing into the historical Tivland. Helping perhaps to provide perspective to the experience of changing how one thinks when given over to technology in a more understandable setting.
Cleanly written, and sharply observed. This is a great short story that I will undoubtedly return to.
I love this piece for it's premise. Taking a real actual and historical concern for the affects of technological advancements on the human mind and extrapolating forward to a not impossible future. How would having digitally augmented eyes and memory change the way we live?
But even more interesting is the philosophical questions this piece flirts with. Reminiscent of Susan Sontag's work on photography and objective reality. What is the difference between truth "vough" and Truth "mimi". Even if objective truth were achievable would it be desirable?
The split narrative structure smartly draws parallels between the integration of Remem into the present society, and the integration of writing into the historical Tivland. Helping perhaps to provide perspective to the experience of changing how one thinks when given over to technology in a more understandable setting.
Cleanly written, and sharply observed. This is a great short story that I will undoubtedly return to.
April 1, 2024
A well-constructed pair of intertwining stories that are related only in theme - that of the effect of new memory enhancement technology on what is considered true. I read the story online before listening to the Very Bad Wizards podcast episode in which it’s discussed (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...). I’ve never been a great fan of short stories so I find it hard to give one more than three stars, but this one was certainly nicely written and thought provoking, and worth reading if you’re going to listen to the podcast since it contains spoilers for the story. I largely agree with the hosts’ concluding interpretation of the story, which is that the two aspects of the title are both valid, and it takes wisdom to decide which applies in a given situation. I do think, however, that in spite of valid arguments to the contrary, both in this story and elsewhere, the truth of fact should take precedence over the truth of feeling in most situations.
April 20, 2023
Thoughtful, if somewhat drawn out. This presents a narrative within a narrative--both of which explore the concepts of faulty human memory, the effects of personal bias on recollection, and the differences between absolute accuracy and felt accuracy.
And... talk about an unreliable narrator!
I had a bit of struggle with the main narrator's insistence on the blanket inaccuracy of recall. He spends a great deal of time using tech to track down and witness an incident, only to discover the horrible thing he thought was said TO him was actually said BY him.
(While this may explain the delusions of many of my middle and high school bullies who remember their treatment of myself and others VERY differently than I do, I'd argue this extreme self-victimizing inaccuracy is far more prevalent in certain types of people and mental health disorders. NOT a generalization that should be a blanket statement about the entire population.)
And... talk about an unreliable narrator!
I had a bit of struggle with the main narrator's insistence on the blanket inaccuracy of recall. He spends a great deal of time using tech to track down and witness an incident, only to discover the horrible thing he thought was said TO him was actually said BY him.
(While this may explain the delusions of many of my middle and high school bullies who remember their treatment of myself and others VERY differently than I do, I'd argue this extreme self-victimizing inaccuracy is far more prevalent in certain types of people and mental health disorders. NOT a generalization that should be a blanket statement about the entire population.)
December 17, 2023
Este cuento es curioso, porque en realidad son dos relatos en uno. Ambos sobre la memoria.
La historia de Moseby y Jijingi es la que más me ha gustado. Una de las metáforas más bonitas sobre la escritura aparece en este relato: "los expertos en interpretar aquellas marcas podían oír una historia aun cuando no hubieran estado donde se contó." Más que un cuento, es un ensayo que me ha calado en lo más profundo de mi alma de filóloga. Es una reflexión bellísima sobre lo que significa la lengua escrita y lo importante de la memoria.
"La idea de que los relatos del pasado no deberían cambiar es producto de la reverencia de las culturas alfabetizadas hacia la palabra escrita."
La historia de Moseby y Jijingi es la que más me ha gustado. Una de las metáforas más bonitas sobre la escritura aparece en este relato: "los expertos en interpretar aquellas marcas podían oír una historia aun cuando no hubieran estado donde se contó." Más que un cuento, es un ensayo que me ha calado en lo más profundo de mi alma de filóloga. Es una reflexión bellísima sobre lo que significa la lengua escrita y lo importante de la memoria.
"La idea de que los relatos del pasado no deberían cambiar es producto de la reverencia de las culturas alfabetizadas hacia la palabra escrita."
December 29, 2022
very thoughtful story. about letting go of and forgiving the past. being less harsh on others for their imperfections, acknowledging that we’re more imperfect than we’ll ever know. what actually happened in your past doesn’t matter so much as how you view and live with the past henceforth. there is a time for objectivity of memories and a time for subjectivity; each serves its purpose, but their purposes should always be to grow and improve. and nothing is more important than the present, what you choose to do with the past in order to craft a better future for yourself.
March 12, 2024
Chiang is mind-blowingly good. It's amazing how these stories stay stuck inside your head for years (funny observation for a story all about memory). He manages to combine truly fascinating science-fiction concepts with extremely compelling characters every time.
Also glad to see this back on Goodreads as a separate entry, the kind of fuckery that was going there is so extremely annoying.
Also glad to see this back on Goodreads as a separate entry, the kind of fuckery that was going there is so extremely annoying.
May 19, 2023
Pretty amazing story. It definitely gives a new meaning to the saying "there are three sides to every story." Being someone who loves to record memories, whether in picture, video or written form, it's an interesting concept to think about.
October 11, 2023
"We don’t normally think of it as such, but writing is a technology, which means that a literate person is someone whose thought processes are technologically mediated. We became cognitive cyborgs as soon as we became fluent readers, and the consequences of that were profound."
November 20, 2021
4.5
bardzo dobre!! Chiang at his best
bardzo dobre!! Chiang at his best
January 6, 2022
The best possible way two distinct, seemingly unrelated stories can culminate in a single message.
March 8, 2022
One of my favorites of Ted Chiang’s. This is one of his pieces where the philosophical/societal themes and the techno/sci-fi story align just perfectly.
April 8, 2022
Insanely well written and forces a necessary dialogue on a very possible future.
June 14, 2022
Very interesting narrative and concept. I believe that it's a probable future we as a species are moving towards.
January 11, 2023
seriously interesting story read for a critical practice class
June 8, 2023
annoying dad tries not to be wrong for half the story (fails)
September 16, 2023
Writings and languages change people, we are all the fabrication of our own memories
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews