Experience Against Memory
Thinking, Fast and SlowThis flow follows the collision between the experiencing self's moment-by-moment life and the remembering self's compressed story.
increasing
Bearing strength in each event
decreasing
The Hedonimeter

Measuring Experience
Momentary Value
Experienced utility is represented as the area under a pleasure or pain curve.
Duration
Longer equally intense experiences should count proportionally more.
Two Colonoscopies

Unequal Memories
Real-Time Pain
One patient suffers a shorter but worse-ending procedure; another endures a longer procedure ending gently.
Retrospective Error
Peak and ending predict memory better than total duration.
Cold-Hand Choice

More Pain Preferred
Short Trial
A 60-second immersion ends at high pain.
Long Trial
A 90-second immersion ends after slight relief and is later chosen for repetition.
The Remembering Self

The Story Keeper
Peak and End
Memory compresses episodes around their most intense and final moments.
Choice Power
The remembering self governs later decisions even when it misrepresents lived experience.
Duration as Moral Fact

Time Matters
Objective Welfare
A duration-weighted account treats all moments as part of the experience.
Conflicted Values
A complete theory must also respect the remembering self's concern for narrative identity.
At the opening of Part 5
Early in the two-selves discussion
Middle of Part 5
After the cold-hand experiment
Near the conclusion of the two-selves section