Dr. David Eagleman

So I'm going to do something now so that my future self can't act badly.

So this is the topic of my next book.

It's called The Ulysses Contract.

And where this term comes from,

is in the Odyssey, Odysseus, otherwise known as Ulysses, is coming home from the Trojan War, and he realizes that way up ahead he's going to pass the Island of the Sirens, where you've got these beautiful female creatures who sing these songs that are so beautiful, it beggars the mind of the sailors, and everyone crashes into the rocks and dies.

Ulysses really wants to hear the song, but he knows, like any mortal man, he's going to fall for this and crash into the rocks.

So what does he do?

He has his men lash him to the mast so he can't move.

He has them put beeswax in their ears so they can't do anything.

And he tells them, no matter what I do, no matter how much I'm screaming, just keep going, just keep sailing.

Smart.

Right.

It's smart because what is happening is the Ulysses of sound mind is making a contract for the future Ulysses who he knows is going to behave badly.

So he's lashing him to the mass.

And what I've been fascinated by is the ways that we do this in our lives all the time.

So the example you gave a few minutes ago about locking up your phone in one of these lock boxes is a perfect example because we're

What you're making sure is that the Andrew of two hours from now can't do the wrong thing because you know he might.

You know he's going to be tempted.

So you take away that temptation.

By the way, I recently met an older gentleman who told me about an older woman that he'd met years ago who used to –