(lighthearted music) (graphic clicking) - [Ruben] Hi, I am Ruben Reyes Jr., and this is my novel, "Archive of Unknown Universes."

(lighthearted music) It's a novel that follows two families over alternate timelines of the Salvadoran Civil War, but it's also about love and destiny, and these big pictures about how and why our lives unfold the way they do.

(lighthearted music) - You could have easily written a novel about these two couples- - Yeah.

- In two different timelines and, you know, examined just solely on how they were impacted by the revolution.

But you, sir, decide to throw in a device that shows you alternative versions of their lives.

So, why did you decide to put a speculative bent on this story?

- All my writing tends to be... You know, it asks very real and human questions, but I'm really interested in technology and in speculative fiction, the way that it can ask these big questions is a genre that I think holds space for big philosophical questions, and the device is one way of doing that.

It's a way of making these kind of philosophical questions very literal for these characters.

- Yeah.

- But I knew pretty early on that there would be a device, and then my characters would turn to it, seeking guidance that the machine just couldn't really offer them.

- So I wanna unpack what it is.

It's called a Diffractor.

- [Ruben] Yeah.

- It would be so tempting to use a device like this, but what price do you pay?

- Exactly, that's kind of the question at the heart.

When I was coming up with a device, I really wanted to put restrictions on it purposefully.

Theoretically, the characters are only supposed to use it for academic research, they're only available at universities, but of course people break the rules and they turn to it to help them solve their personal problems, questions they have about their relationships, about their lives.

And I think it was trying to reflect what... the way I feel about technology sometimes.

- Yeah.

- I was thinking a lot about AI when I was writing this, and the fact that a lot of people are turning to ChatGPT for relationship advice, for help planning their lives, for things that I, quite honestly, don't feel like it can really deliver on.

And so that was some of the things I was thinking about in coming up with a Diffractor.

- Well, Ruben, you've written a great book- - Thank you.

- And I so appreciate you being here.

- Thank you, thank you so much.

Thanks for having me.

- And thank you for watching "A Word on Words."

I'm Jeremy Finley.

Remember, keep reading.

(lighthearted music) (graphic tinging) So I'm sure you get asked this.

If there was a Diffractor.

- [Ruben] Yeah.

- [Jeremy] Would you use it?

- [Ruben] 1,000% percent, yes.

- [Jeremy] Absolutely would?

- [Ruben] I think I would use it too much.