The idea that the future is unpredictable is undermined every day by the ease with which the past is explained.

The confidence people have in their beliefs is not a measure of the quality of evidence but of the coherence of the story the mind has managed to construct.

If you're going to be unreligious, it's likely going to be due to reflecting on it and finding some things that are hard to believe.

You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.

So your emotional state really has a lot to do with what you're thinking about and what you're paying attention to.

Organizations may be better able to tame optimism than individuals are.

My impression is that the elimination of memories greatly reduces the value of the experience.