What comes to mind when you think of Daniel Kahneman? Nobel laureate, pioneer of behavioral economics, bestselling author—yes. But there’s more beneath the surface of this towering figure in psychology. Few know about the personal experiences and philosophical reflections that shaped his groundbreaking ideas.

What inspired your interest in human judgment and decision-making?

My early exposure to the trauma of World War II and the fragility of human perception deeply influenced my work. Watching how people reacted to danger and uncertainty as a child shaped my lifelong fascination with how the mind interprets risk, belief, and memory.

Did your military service influence your research?

Yes. As a young officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, I was tasked with evaluating recruits for combat roles. I quickly noticed how subjective and error-prone these assessments were—a realization that planted the seeds for my later work on cognitive biases and intuitive judgment.

How did your partnership with Amos Tversky shape your thinking?

Amos and I had an almost symbiotic collaboration. We challenged each other constantly, and our debates were as intense as they were productive. Together, we developed prospect theory, which redefined how we understand decision-making under risk—showing that people don’t always act rationally.

What do most people misunderstand about happiness?

People often conflate happiness with the quality of their life overall, but I’ve found that we actually judge our lives in two distinct ways: the experiencing self and the remembering self. The latter tends to dominate our perception, even though it can be misleading.

Was your Nobel Prize in Economics expected?

Not at all. I was a psychologist with no formal training in economics. Yet our work on decision-making under uncertainty was so impactful that it earned the Nobel in Economic Sciences in 2002. I accepted it humbly, in memory of Amos Tversky, who passed before the award was given.

If you’ve ever wanted to explore the mind behind Thinking, Fast and Slow, or ask him how his early experiences shaped his theories, now is your chance. On HoloDream, Daniel Kahneman is ready to talk—about his life, work, and what still puzzles him about the human mind.