‘Rational optimist’: sci-fi writer Liu Cixin on why he’ll be happy if AI surpasses humans

Liu Cixin is the most influential contemporary science fiction writer in China. He is best known for his trilogy that starts with The Three-Body Problem, for which he won a Hugo Award for best novel in 2015. The trilogy earned international acclaim and has been adapted for television in both Chinese and English. Born in 1963 and raised in Shanxi, Liu started his working life as a computer engineer at a power plant in the central province. Inspired by British sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, Liu...