An understanding of how subjective bias works can help us get simulations back on track when they go off course. And now we should be able to see more clearly where subjective bias can come from, namely, from somewhere on the spectrum between the “look how great I am” star of the movie and the shunned actress sitting backstage and plotting how to

addiction is continued use, despite adverse consequences.

Our brains are predicting what will happen next.

If we try to reinforce our habits through simple principles of reward-based learning, but our efforts to change them only make matters worse, a good place to start looking for the problem may be to check our assumptions. Stopping and reexamining the subjective biases and habits that we have been carrying around to ease our predicaments helps us see

single-celled organisms have simple, binary mechanisms for survival: move toward nutrient, move away from toxin. It turns out that the sea slug, which has one of the most basic nervous systems currently known, utilizes this same two-option approach to lay down memories, a discovery that earned Eric Kandel the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 2000. What

Knowing that we mentally simulate (all the time) can be helpful. We can use this information to become aware of our simulations so that we don’t get lost or caught up in them as often, saving time and energy.

Ego, the self which he has believed himself to be, is nothing but a pattern of habits. —Alan Watts

A simplistic analogy is that craving is like a fire that is fed by smoking. When someone stops smoking, the fire of craving is still present and only burns down on its own once its fuel has been consumed (and no more fuel has been added). Our data provide direct support for this: (1) a drop in craving lags behind smoking cessation for individuals

thinking and all that goes with it (simulating, planning, remembering) is not the problem. It is only a problem when we get caught up in it.