Why Arrival sucks so much and Ted Chiang’s short story is actually good

Then Borgesian preference for the written word instead of speech

Weber was coming to participate in a session with Flapper and Raspberry; I was to act as translator, a
job I wasn’t trained for and that I detested.
Ted Chiang's short-story, the one "Arrival" is based on, is actually pretty decent, or even more
than decent. It makes "Arrival" SUCK even more than it did before you read it. It's an intelligent
piece of writing that understands that preposterous sci-fi theories about time and physics MUST
be based on scientific data (whether real or imaginary) and not on word-of- mouth new age
beliefs about the way we view the world through language... Once you understand that the decisive
factor are biological constraints leading ot a different perception of reality through time and space, you can
more readily accept the idea of a non-linear language that conveys that perception of reality as cyclic or
perpetually recurring;
Granted, the conclusion and the ending are still a bit of a stretch: why would we be able to change our
perception of time through the use of a different language, when we're not biologically built to work that
way. We're hard-wired to perceive natural events as causally-determined and it is unlikely that learning
how to use a writing system can turn off the switch of cause and effect and shunt us into a path of cyclical
perception.
And yet, this convoluted and unlikely plot is a thousand times better than what that overblown lackluster
blockbuster tried to sell us on, especially because of the way the stories are intertwined, the constant use of
the future tense as a narrative device, the many intricacies of the plot and how subtly they unravel and, of
course, the all-pervading narrative voice and the narrator's heart-rending Buddhist-like Borgesian
acceptance of her own tragic suffering, and her own daughter's distressing demise.

I just read the story "Arrival" was based on. It is great, full of actual philosophical insight and accurate
representations of linguistics. Even though I don't buy into any of the Sapir-Whorfian crap, it is so well
wrought into the story and so perfectly balanced with an original interpretation of perspectivism in the
understanding of the laws of physics that you actually suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to be
thrilled by the full-blown Borgesian metaphysical shivers it sends down your spine;