Present bias

Biological Parallel

Squirrels cache nuts for winter—future planning—but when hungry now, they eat caches instead of foraging for new food. Present needs override future planning when energy is depleted. Present bias evolved because immediate threats (starvation, predation) kill before future benefits arrive. The bias isn't weakness—it's survival prioritization. When glucose drops and cortisol spikes, the brain treats now as existential and later as hypothetical. Future you can't benefit from present death.