In her essay collection, We Radiant Things: Notes on Being Alien and Becoming Cyborg, Franny Choi interrogates the common metaphor that likens Asians to robots, exploring how this trope has impacted her life, her identity, and even her experience of pleasure. By critiquing cultural touchstones from Terminator 2 and Battlestar Galactica to The Flaming Lips and beyond, Choi grapples with what makes us human and how to envision a better world without repeating the mistakes of the past.
I spoke with the writer over Zoom. We talked about how they balance social justice organizing with the demands of their day job, the value of dissociation, the transition from writing poetry to nonfiction, and why we all need to be very specific in our opposition to AI.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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