The Brain: The Story of You

by David Eagleman

we merely simulate. The thing that trips up good decision making about the future is the present. In 2008, the US economy took a sharp downturn. At the heart of the trouble was the simple fact that many homeowners had over-borrowed. They had taken out loans that offered wonderfully low interest rates for a period of a few years. The problem occurred at the end of the trial period, when the rates went up. At the higher rates, many homeowners found themselves unable to make the payments. Close to a million homes went into foreclosure, sending shockwaves through the economy of the planet. What did this disaster have to do with competing networks in the brain? These subprime loans allowed people to obtain a nice house now, with the high rates deferred until later. As such, the offer perfectly appealed to the neural networks that desire instant gratification – that is, those networks that want things now. Because the seduction of the immediate satisfaction pulls so strongly on our decision making, the housing bubble can be understood not simply as an economic phenomenon, but also as a neural one. The pull of the now wasn’t just about the people borrowing, of course, but also the lenders who were getting rich, right now, by offering loans that weren’t going to get paid. They rebundled the loans and sold them off. Such practices are unethical, but the temptation proved too enticing to many thousands. This now-versus-the-future battle doesn’t just apply to housing bubbles, it cuts...