Didn't know this story was originally published in Nature. I read it in his excellent short story book Exhalation and loved it like I did many others in that collection.
Chiang is like Kafka and Borges in that he writes plain prose that blows your mind.
> Futures is a venue for very short stories or ‘vignettes’ of between 850 and 950 words. The subject is typically near-future, hard SF, although this can be interpreted liberally.
Chiang is like Kafka and Borges in that he writes plain prose that blows your mind.