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What's Expected of Us
A short science fiction story as a part of the collection 'Exhalation' by Ted Chiang.
4 pages, ebook
Published July 6, 2005
365 people want to read
About the author
Ted Chiang
111 books11k followersTed Chiang is an American science fiction writer. His Chinese name is Chiang Feng-nan. He graduated from Brown University with a Computer Science degree. He currently works as a technical writer in the software industry and resides in Bellevue, near Seattle, Washington. He is a graduate of the noted Clarion Writers Workshop (1989) and has been an instructor for it (2012, 2016). Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker, where he writes on topics related to computing such as artificial intelligence.
Chiang has published 18 short stories, to date, and most of them have won prestigious speculative fiction awards - including multiple Nebula Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, and British Science Fiction Association Awards, among others. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the film Arrival (2016). He has never written a novel but is one of the most decorated science fiction writers currently working.
Chiang's first eight stories are collected in "Stories of Your Life, and Others" and the next nine, in "Exhalation: Stories".
Chiang has published 18 short stories, to date, and most of them have won prestigious speculative fiction awards - including multiple Nebula Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, and British Science Fiction Association Awards, among others. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the film Arrival (2016). He has never written a novel but is one of the most decorated science fiction writers currently working.
Chiang's first eight stories are collected in "Stories of Your Life, and Others" and the next nine, in "Exhalation: Stories".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
September 7, 2022
“So why did I do it? Because I had no choice.”
Ah, there’s nothing like feeling slightly disturbed and reevaluating your own belief regarding free will at 8 in the morning.
Ah, there’s nothing like feeling slightly disturbed and reevaluating your own belief regarding free will at 8 in the morning.
March 17, 2023
Another short by Ted Chiang, about determinism and free will, this one not as intense as most, and probably due to its brevity more than anything else. It can be read for free at https://www.nature.com/articles/436150a.
April 7, 2024
Interesting concept, with a warning from the future about the perils of technology that can anticipate the future, and that impact on free will, but it was incredibly short. A solid teaser, but not enough meat to really love it.
August 13, 2021
Completely implausible and did not deliver what the title promised at all.
Read
October 20, 2023"Civilization now depends on self-deception. Perhaps it always has."
Ah, that was a good healthy morning dose of determinism.
Ah, that was a good healthy morning dose of determinism.
July 13, 2024
Super short, bittersweet, and brilliant.
In many ways this is the somehow the same, but also the opposite of Exhalation in the fact that it is very much a vehicle for the concept, in this instance being the 'motif of harmful sensation', but this is incredibly effective in its shortness and the conceits it employs, the Predictor clicker itself, and the nature of the story as a message--in this sense it is also has a more traditional scifi tone aspect of The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate.
I hadn't heard the term, motif of harmful sensation, before, but I love the Monty Python Deadly Joke sketch Chiang references in his author's note (obligatory fuck John Cleese for growing into a cantankerous wanker far more hateful than any of his many hilarious angry characters. TERF prick!), Bird Box is a favourite of mine, in fact, Malerman loves a good harmful sensation, which Mad Black Wheel is all about (I don't know if I'll ever get over how much I love his prose, but how disappointing that book is).
Great stuff!
In many ways this is the somehow the same, but also the opposite of Exhalation in the fact that it is very much a vehicle for the concept, in this instance being the 'motif of harmful sensation', but this is incredibly effective in its shortness and the conceits it employs, the Predictor clicker itself, and the nature of the story as a message--in this sense it is also has a more traditional scifi tone aspect of The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate.
I hadn't heard the term, motif of harmful sensation, before, but I love the Monty Python Deadly Joke sketch Chiang references in his author's note (obligatory fuck John Cleese for growing into a cantankerous wanker far more hateful than any of his many hilarious angry characters. TERF prick!), Bird Box is a favourite of mine, in fact, Malerman loves a good harmful sensation, which Mad Black Wheel is all about (I don't know if I'll ever get over how much I love his prose, but how disappointing that book is).
Great stuff!
May 1, 2021
At least Chiang cut to the chase this time and addressed the free will problem with his brand of time travel. I can't yet tell if Chiang really adheres to this school of thought on free will or if he purposely writes to provoke the reader into wishing to defend the very notion of it.
Also, 3.5 pages isn't long enough to properly flesh this concept out. I appreciate the brevity for once but I think I'm taking longer to type this review than it took to actually read the thing.
Also, 3.5 pages isn't long enough to properly flesh this concept out. I appreciate the brevity for once but I think I'm taking longer to type this review than it took to actually read the thing.
June 11, 2021
Loved it, though the idea of people losing their minds because of truth is unappealing.. Even if that happened, I suspect it would be temporary (for most).
July 23, 2023
'What's Expected of Us' by Ted Chiang.
Rating: 1.5/5.
Review:
This is a very short story that explores the themes of free will and determinism. These concepts have enough potential to make a story a fascinating read, but unfortunately, the story merely touches the surface level of it. Alas, it seems too...gimmicky. What saved it from being a dud is the way he concluded the story. The last line, on its own, contributes to the sparse rating I awarded to this short story.
My message to you is this: Pretend that you have free will. It’s essential that you behave as if your decisions matter, even though you know they don’t. The reality isn’t important; what’s important is your belief, and believing the lie is the only way to avoid a waking coma. Civilization now depends on self-deception. Perhaps it always has.
Rating: 1.5/5.
Review:
This is a very short story that explores the themes of free will and determinism. These concepts have enough potential to make a story a fascinating read, but unfortunately, the story merely touches the surface level of it. Alas, it seems too...gimmicky. What saved it from being a dud is the way he concluded the story. The last line, on its own, contributes to the sparse rating I awarded to this short story.
November 29, 2024
Super short and, as a free will skeptic, I loved it! Very Ted Chiang.
Don't let the beginning, which just starts chatting about lungs and needing to plug in your air supply, discourage you. That's not really what it ends up being about. Just go with it to its thoroughly satisfying conclusion.
Don't let the beginning, which just starts chatting about lungs and needing to plug in your air supply, discourage you. That's not really what it ends up being about. Just go with it to its thoroughly satisfying conclusion.
March 17, 2022
I believe I would've rated the story higher if it was not the third time same idea was being repeated by Chiang.
When I first read "Stories of your life" I liked the idea (even if the physics was faulty). But after three similar stories, the idea wears out a little bit.
When I first read "Stories of your life" I liked the idea (even if the physics was faulty). But after three similar stories, the idea wears out a little bit.
July 6, 2023
Available to read here: https://www.nature.com/articles/436150a
A great sci-fi short story.
It reminded me of the best of Asimov's short stories. Take an idea, show one of the consequences of how it would change society, end it with a great line, make the reader think.
And do it all in a few pages.
A great sci-fi short story.
It reminded me of the best of Asimov's short stories. Take an idea, show one of the consequences of how it would change society, end it with a great line, make the reader think.
And do it all in a few pages.
June 28, 2022
Superb. Magnifico. Bonega kaj originala rakonto pri libera volo.
April 14, 2022
Mind fuck. But in a good way.
May 2, 2025
The incredibly good new Marvel movie ‘Thunderbolts’ fed my appetite for more sci-fi. I have not, in many years, expected the M-she-U to produce such a high quality film. But somehow they did! And Thunderbolts was quite philosophical as well! I did not expect Marvel to go down this direction. I've always enjoyed Marvel movies the same way I enjoy UFC matches, but I've never been ... thought-provoked. I am very pleased. Among some of the topics that Thunderbolts left living rent-free in my head are the Leviathan … if the Sentry existed irl, must he be the Leviathan? Can we even trust him to? Fascinating.
As to this great short story by Ted, it has little impact on my thinking and emotional wellbeing as of now, but I’m worried that it will gradually grow out of proportion, and take over my brain like the Baobab trees in ‘The little prince’.
The reason why I’m not disturbed as of now is because I’ve concluded for some years now that there’s no free will (courtesy of most notably Alex O’Connor and Tolstoy). And I’ve lived with that conclusion - I’ve not devolved into akinetic mutism. 2 reasons ig - i) It ain’t that deep to believe in the lie, ii) Real life and work leaves little time and headspace for me to think too deeply about this horror anyway.
Another point that I want to contest is the generality of the predictor. It seems to me a incomplete jump in logic, how the determinism of a predictor game, can be extended to the full realm of human behaviour. It strikes me as likely that the complex system of human action can generate interaction effects that collectively make it a fallacy to extrapolate the predictor to the whole of human life. (I literally just thought of a way simpler way to articulate this thought - that microeconomics cannot be extended to macro. The aggregation problem.) But I have little knowledge in this domain so I may be wrong. Furthermore, I can already anticipate a strong counterargument - that even if you argue that all of human behaviour is ‘random’ (due to the aforementioned’ interaction effects’) - that, by definition, means that human behaviour has no agency!
The final point which I am skeptical of is Ted’s prediction of most people’s reaction to the realization of determinism. My assumption of human nature is that most people are stupid, and hence most people wouldn’t give a shit even in response to the most profound awakenings. Most people would likely just react ‘meh’ to the predictor, and resume doom-scrolling hundreds of TikTok reels, in my view.
And has anyone considered that determinism can be … happy, in a way? Perhaps a better word would be ‘liberating’. It’s a common response for me to feel that my life sucks (compared to superheroes, ofc, or the literal Sentry) after watching a movie like ‘Thunderbolts’. But once I realize that life has no agency, I can return to my work with a new-found peace that it’s just due to the unknowable shuffling of the cards of the universe, that I get dealt the hand of an NPC while other people get dealt the hand of the Sentry. It’s not a W or an L by anyone, it’s just … life.
As to this great short story by Ted, it has little impact on my thinking and emotional wellbeing as of now, but I’m worried that it will gradually grow out of proportion, and take over my brain like the Baobab trees in ‘The little prince’.
The reason why I’m not disturbed as of now is because I’ve concluded for some years now that there’s no free will (courtesy of most notably Alex O’Connor and Tolstoy). And I’ve lived with that conclusion - I’ve not devolved into akinetic mutism. 2 reasons ig - i) It ain’t that deep to believe in the lie, ii) Real life and work leaves little time and headspace for me to think too deeply about this horror anyway.
Another point that I want to contest is the generality of the predictor. It seems to me a incomplete jump in logic, how the determinism of a predictor game, can be extended to the full realm of human behaviour. It strikes me as likely that the complex system of human action can generate interaction effects that collectively make it a fallacy to extrapolate the predictor to the whole of human life. (I literally just thought of a way simpler way to articulate this thought - that microeconomics cannot be extended to macro. The aggregation problem.) But I have little knowledge in this domain so I may be wrong. Furthermore, I can already anticipate a strong counterargument - that even if you argue that all of human behaviour is ‘random’ (due to the aforementioned’ interaction effects’) - that, by definition, means that human behaviour has no agency!
The final point which I am skeptical of is Ted’s prediction of most people’s reaction to the realization of determinism. My assumption of human nature is that most people are stupid, and hence most people wouldn’t give a shit even in response to the most profound awakenings. Most people would likely just react ‘meh’ to the predictor, and resume doom-scrolling hundreds of TikTok reels, in my view.
And has anyone considered that determinism can be … happy, in a way? Perhaps a better word would be ‘liberating’. It’s a common response for me to feel that my life sucks (compared to superheroes, ofc, or the literal Sentry) after watching a movie like ‘Thunderbolts’. But once I realize that life has no agency, I can return to my work with a new-found peace that it’s just due to the unknowable shuffling of the cards of the universe, that I get dealt the hand of an NPC while other people get dealt the hand of the Sentry. It’s not a W or an L by anyone, it’s just … life.
August 30, 2022
Collected in Exhalation and Nature, Volume 436 Issue 7047, this micro short story can also be read free online here. A new device, The Predictor, is a tiny device the size of a remote for opening your car door. All it does is flash green one second BEFORE you decide to push the button to open the door. Oooh a new fad game!
Millions were initially sold, and then, people started to realize the Predictor is never wrong, which made them contemplate something horrific.
It turns out that the disabling thought is one that we've all encountered: the idea that free will doesn't exist. It just wasn't harmful until you believed it.
So now what ?? This story takes this premise to a logical and somewhat interesting conclusion, backed up by a very witty ending.
Millions were initially sold, and then, people started to realize the Predictor is never wrong, which made them contemplate something horrific.
It turns out that the disabling thought is one that we've all encountered: the idea that free will doesn't exist. It just wasn't harmful until you believed it.
So now what ?? This story takes this premise to a logical and somewhat interesting conclusion, backed up by a very witty ending.
September 11, 2023
“Civilisation now depends on self-deception. Perhaps it always has.”
Pretty good explorative shot story about determinist and free-will, but this one is not as thought provoking as the other stories of Ted Chiang. But I can relate in some extend, I always repulsed by the people that forced their own realities on you and believe their reality is the one true world that everyone should live by. This is utterly wrong because we all live in our perspectives, nothing is real, but the lies are real to us.
Pretty good explorative shot story about determinist and free-will, but this one is not as thought provoking as the other stories of Ted Chiang. But I can relate in some extend, I always repulsed by the people that forced their own realities on you and believe their reality is the one true world that everyone should live by. This is utterly wrong because we all live in our perspectives, nothing is real, but the lies are real to us.
June 3, 2025
Read as a part of
This one is about a letter's length, so just go read it. I loved it. It's so simple and short but still packs a strong punch.
This covers in a interesting way.
(Why do i even bother with the spoiler. everyone else just telling you what it's about)
Also can someone tell me why they couldn't (Wasn't really the point of the story tho)
This one is about a letter's length, so just go read it. I loved it. It's so simple and short but still packs a strong punch.
This covers in a interesting way.
(Why do i even bother with the spoiler. everyone else just telling you what it's about)
Also can someone tell me why they couldn't (Wasn't really the point of the story tho)
March 14, 2022
This is the (very) short story for of the concept of free will/determinism more deeply explored in Stories of Your Life and Others. It's very well made. Take the 5 minutes out of your life to read the thing. It will get you to think some really disturbing things afterwards.
March 24, 2022
First of all I would like to say is "Woah" and second of all I would like to say is "Not for the light hearted". This short story consisting of barly 2 pages by Ted Chiang is beautifully written and has the power to make you really think and wonder. A combination of Sci-fi and philosophy, the fiction that we probably live.
November 3, 2024
^3.5
(I was going to give this 3 stars but adding an extra .5 for the concept and format it was presented in.)
✨Interesting concept
✨Enjoyed the newspaper layout
✨Philosophical
✨Reflective
🪄Wish there was a bit more to it, would loved to have seen the story developed slightly more. Maybe with more case studies or going more into peoples frustrations and feeling using the devise.
(I was going to give this 3 stars but adding an extra .5 for the concept and format it was presented in.)
✨Interesting concept
✨Enjoyed the newspaper layout
✨Philosophical
✨Reflective
🪄Wish there was a bit more to it, would loved to have seen the story developed slightly more. Maybe with more case studies or going more into peoples frustrations and feeling using the devise.
June 26, 2025
Pretend that you have free will. It’s essential
that you behave as if your decisions matter, even though you know they don’t. The reality isn’t important; what’s important is your belief, and believing the lie is the only way to avoid a waking coma. Civilization now depends on self-deception. Perhaps it always has.
that you behave as if your decisions matter, even though you know they don’t. The reality isn’t important; what’s important is your belief, and believing the lie is the only way to avoid a waking coma. Civilization now depends on self-deception. Perhaps it always has.
December 26, 2021
2.5/5
Very short story that sets up a neat conclusion around the idea of signals sent backwards through time in a fun little game device The Predictor breaking the illusion of free will. Whilst short and entertaining, I found the idea better explored in Stories of Your Life.
Very short story that sets up a neat conclusion around the idea of signals sent backwards through time in a fun little game device The Predictor breaking the illusion of free will. Whilst short and entertaining, I found the idea better explored in Stories of Your Life.
August 12, 2023
Quick gut punch to get you in the existential dread mood. Read with Stories of Your Life and Others
August 29, 2023
Aaaaah! Such a good short story! I took it to be an instruction manual for a device that is made up of a light and a single button. The basic premise is that the button activates the light, however the light activates precisely one second before you push the button.
July 13, 2024
Rating each of the short stories from previous book separately because I didn't end up wanting to finish it.
Me when I tell short story writers that they cannot make an eloquent point about any philosophical argument in 4 pages without coming off like a dickhead.
Me when I tell short story writers that they cannot make an eloquent point about any philosophical argument in 4 pages without coming off like a dickhead.
May 3, 2021
Mandatory note to self. It's important to believe that we have free will.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 2, 2021
These shorts are so intricate but so clean and structurally perfect.
June 29, 2021
Because I had no choice.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews