Myopia Bias

The eye that sees only near objects has a name: myopia. The mind that sees only near consequences has the same condition, untreated. The pleasure now outweighs the cost later; the saving later is ignored for the comfort now — not by choice, but by lens.

The mechanics are those of vision: the near thing is large and vivid, the far thing small and dim. Ten units of pain next year does not feel like ten units — distance shrinks it. So the future is chronically underbid, and the present chronically overpaid.

Whole lives are the accumulated receipt of this bias: the unlearned skill, the unsaved money, the unvisited doctor, the unmade apology. Each was a small comfort bought with a large future, priced as if the large were small.

The correction is to bring the far thing near: write down what present-you is spending on future-you's account. Give the future a face, a date, a number. Distance shrinks only what stays distant. Make the far thing visible, and the lens corrects itself.