This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam.

Often in life, we find ourselves wrestling with a decision.

And when we do, we tend to focus on the outcome of that decision.

How we'll feel once all is said and done.

Will I love my new job or will I miss my old one?

Should I move to a new city or Or stay close to friends and family?

Will having children bring me joy?

Or will they feel like a burden?

We do this with smaller decisions too.

Is this expensive vacation going to be worth the cost?

Should I find a new preschool for my child?

What major should I pursue in college?

Our minds fill with questions as we try to predict the best paths to take.

We make lists of pros and cons, weigh our options, get advice from friends.

All this, to make our future selves happy.

But in running these mental calculations,

there's something we rarely consider about the future.

We might not be the same person when we get there.

Our future cells might think, feel, and value things differently than we do right

now. This week on Hidden Brain, we explore one of life's trickiest questions. How do we make

decisions about the future when we cannot anticipate who we'll be when we get there.

Our lives are made up of experiences big and small.

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