Entertainment · Books & Arts · 9 hrs ago
Ted Chiang to discuss billionaires and immortality at Powerhouse Parramatta
Science-fiction writer Ted Chiang is heading to Sydney for the opening festival at Powerhouse Parramatta.
His November 8 keynote will examine billionaires, capitalism and immortality, including whether the pursuit of living forever can be ethical.
Chiang questions why some wealthy people are drawn to life-extending treatments and whether their interest says anything about the goal itself.
Evidence that such treatments work may be decades away, he says, because many people would need to live past 100 or even 120.
He also questions why billionaires keep seeking more wealth when extra money may not meaningfully improve their lives.
A Powerhouse exhibition draws on Chiang’s story “The Tower of Babylon”, with its design arranged in four parts.
The exhibition is part of the museum’s opening festival.
Ted Chiang will give a keynote address at Powerhouse Parramatta on November 8 about billionaires, capitalism and whether immortality can be pursued ethically.
The address is part of the museum’s 23-day opening festival.
Chiang says he questions whether people seeking immortality are the people anyone would want to spend eternity with.
He says it will take decades to know whether longevity treatments work, because researchers would need to see a significant number of people live beyond 100 or 120.
An exhibition at the museum, Task Eternal, draws on Chiang’s story The Tower of Babylon.
- Who
- Ted Chiang, a science-fiction writer.
- What
- He will give a keynote address about billionaires, capitalism and the ethics of pursuing immortality.
- When
- November 8, 2026.
- Where
- Powerhouse Parramatta in Sydney.
- Why
- The address is part of the museum’s opening festival. The sources do not state a more specific reason.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Chiang’s novella Story of Your Life was published.
Chiang’s collection Exhalation was published.
Chiang is scheduled to give a keynote address at Powerhouse Parramatta.
- Keynote date
- November 8, 2026
- Festival length
- 23 days
- Exhibition
- Task Eternal
- Story behind exhibition
- The Tower of Babylon
- Story adapted into film
- Story of Your Life was the basis for the film Arrival
What people are saying
It seems like a lot of the people who are interested in pursuing immortality in recent years, they seem like the worst people in the world
For us to have good evidence that [these treatments] are working, we’ll need to see a significant number of them living over 100 or like 120 or something like that, and so you know that’s decades away.
It’s not because it will help improve their life in any meaningful way. It’s just because, arguably, it’s the only thing they know how to do.