Talmud Class: The All-Powerful Recency Bias - What Have You Done For Me Lately?

From the Bimah: Jewish Lessons for Life

Immediately ahead are seven years of great abundance in all the land of Egypt. After them will come seven years of famine, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. (Genesis 41: 29-30) Truer words were never spoken. Joseph’s interpretation of how lean years swallow up fat years, how bad times swallow up good times, how seventy years of life and health get swallowed up by a decade of dementia, when we struggle to remember what our loved one used to be like—his words were true for ancient Egypt, and they are true for us. In his commentary on Joseph’s interpretation, Rashi picks up on this note of swallowing. Bad swallows good. What have you done for me lately? The recency bias is so powerful. Like the thin ears of corn that swallow the fat ears of corn, like the scrawny cows that swallow the robust cows, today’s truth crowds out yesterday’s truth. In sports, in the economy, in culture, the fact that a team used to win, that the economy used to be strong, that a singer used to belt out number one hits, is always eclipsed by what is happening now. So too our moods. The fact that we used to be happy is scant consolation if we are depressed now. And, as noted above, one of the cruelest expressions of the recency bias is dementia. It literally is hard to remember our loved one before their decline, so powerful is their decline at swallowing up time and energy. Is there an answer for the all-powerful recency bias? Joseph’s solution is to store up a reserve during the good time to hold us in the bad time. That solution worked for ancient Egypt. At least it staved off mass starvation. Does the storing up solution work for us? If not, do we have any other way to counter the awesome power of the recency bias?