"I believe that the gaze of others can change our relationships with them, change our lives, and help us discover ourselves," Schmitt says. Therefore, "the gaze of the 'other' can allow the life being observed to blossom and give life".

In their conversation, Yang asked the author whether changes in the world and feedback from readers influence his writing.

Schmitt agreed, suggesting that the rise of AI might be humanity's "fourth narcissistic wound (after Copernicus' heliocentrism, Darwin's theory of evolution, and Freud's psychoanalysis)". He noted, "AI might hurt our human narcissism even more deeply because it surpasses us in some ways, potentially bringing unimaginable and powerful forms of harm."

This idea ties in with the contemporary themes of his novel. Schmitt explains that The Passage of Time series uses a dual narrative because, after waking up in the modern era, Noam suddenly experiences a new kind of anxiety previously unknown to humanity: ecological anxiety.

Today, people fear that we might destroy our own planet, a unique concern of the 21st century, he explains. Driven by this anxiety, Noam decides to write a memoir, "recounting how humanity has step-by-step reached this point".

At the end of the event at JIC Books, Schmitt gave the audience a small teaser: In one of the upcoming volumes, Noam will travel to both contemporary and 18th-century China.