Why Do I Want Myself in Particular to Exist in Ten Years?

Regular readers will know I was diagnosed out of the blue with metastatic kidney cancer last month. My wife and I (thanks, Pauline!) have spent the past few weeks running all over southern California, seeking opinions and options from Kaiser, City of Hope, UCLA, and UCSD. I've now started a targeted cancer drug and immunotherapy, and I've completed one course of radiation. Discussing my diagnosis, one oncologist cheerily said, "The good news is that with the new treatments, life expectancy is measured in years, not months. We're now looking at median expectancies of three or four years, and you might well live even longer than that." I knew enough about my diagnosis not to be surprised. Still, it's a sobering thought for a 58-year-old who had previously anticipated decades of future life. So I've been thinking: Why I should care so much whether this person I am, Eric Schwitzgebel, still exists in ten years? Of course I do care. But what are the grounds of my caring? What is the…

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