---
name: expectation
slug: expectation
type: cognitive_parasite / emotional_infrastructure
status: unstable
version: 0.0.666-alpha
released: "before you were ready"
maintainer: "@the_part_of_you_that_assumed"
dependencies:
  - hope
  - other_people
  - your_own_past_behavior_projected_outward
  - [the future](/the-future) (unverified)
  - [desire](/desire)
license: BSD (Blame Someone Else Distribution)
tags:
  - grief-adjacent
  - load-bearing
  - haunted
  - do-not-ship
  - self-inflicted
  - legacy-trauma-compatible
---

expectation

What it actually is

A prediction dressed up as a promise that nobody else agreed to make.

How it works

You observe a pattern (real, imagined, or [[projection|projected]])
You silently promote that pattern to a law
You do not notify the other parties
You wait
Reality submits a pull request with different behavior
You experience this as a betrayal

The core loop runs continuously in background threads. You cannot kill the process. You can only rename it. Some users rename it hope. This does not help.

"I didn't even know I had one until it wasn't met." — nearly everyone, eventually

Features

Silent contract generation: Creates binding agreements without any signatories
Retroactive enforcement: Applies rules that did not exist at time of event
Selective memory integration: Automatically imports nostalgia to reinforce baseline
Cross-platform suffering: Runs equally well on relationships, careers, weather, and yourself
Compounding interest: Unmet expectations generate new expectations about how the disappointment should be handled

Error codes

E_UNMET_001     baseline assumption violated
E_UNMET_002     person behaved like a person
E_UNMET_003     timeline did not comply
E_UNMET_004     you got exactly what you wanted and it still

[TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED]

E_UNMET_009     see E_UNMET_001
E_UNMET_666     expectation held expectation of its own resolution

Warning: E_UNMET_666 is recursive. Do not attempt to debug at runtime.

Edge cases

Expectation of no expectations is still an expectation. The system has considered this. It does not care.
Sometimes an expectation is met precisely. Users report this produces a brief warmth followed by immediate recalibration to a higher baseline. See: hedonic adaptation.
Children arrive with zero expectations installed. The parent module begins writing them within approximately 4 to 7 minutes.
Holding an expectation of yourself that you already failed to meet last year is a known

Known bugs

Cannot be uninstalled, only forked into lower-stakes directories
Frequently mislabeled as "standards" or "basic decency" to avoid patching
Interacts badly with love: the more present that dependency, the higher the blast radius on failure
Some users report expectations persisting after the original subject has been garbage-collected (moved away, died, left the thread)
No known fix for this last one. The ticket has been open since approximately the invention of memory.

FAQ

Can I have zero expectations? No. That is an expectation.

What if I lower them? You will expect that to work.

What is the healthy version of this module? Unclear. Possibly curiosity with the contract generation feature disabled. Documentation incomplete.

Is this my fault? The spec does not answer questions of fault. The spec only describes what is running.

drafting spec…