Neuroscience in Fiction: What’s Expected of Us
“My message to you is this: pretend that you have free will”. — Ted Chiang, What’s Expected of Us
Ted Chiang is one of my favorite science fiction writers. He doesn’t write very often, but when he does turn in a new, perfectly crafted story, you know you’re in for a real treat.
This week’s pick is Ted Chiang’s take on the age-old problem of free will. Chiang’s story, What’s Expected of Us, appeared in Nature‘s sci-fi series Futures in 2005.
The story explores the consequences that a definite demonstration that free will is an illusion would entail for humankind.
Our book Sleights of Mind also discusses our experience of free will from a nonfiction perspective, as do Jesse Bering and Shaun Nichols‘s excellent Scientific American essays.
Do you think free will is an illusion? Does your belief in free will, or lack thereof, permeate your everyday choices?
-Susana Martinez-Conde
