He walked on, and they walked with him again, as if he had laid out a thread that one has to follow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201chave two systems in our head. Not anatomically, not as two organs, but as two modes of operation. One is fast. Automatic. It switches on like light when you press the switch. It is the system that protects you when something bangs. It is the system that lets you breathe automatically. It is also the system that tells you immediately: that person over there doesn\u2019t like me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans Castorp thought of the war, of noises, of flinching. Yes. System.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the other one?\u201d asked Morgenstern.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other one is slow,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS. \u201cIt is the system that only comes when you call it. It takes effort. It makes you tired. It is, if you will, the actual thinker.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped briefly, looked at them, and in his gaze there was now something that one could describe as pedagogical strictness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fast system,\u201d he said, \u201cis a notoriously bad statistician.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans Castorp had to smile involuntarily, because the sentence was so dry, so unexpectedly funny in the green.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can add,\u201d Dr. AuDHS continued. \u201cIt can compare sums. It can say: more, less, danger, safe. But it can hardly form averages. It cannot multiply well. It cannot divide. And of roots or logarithms \u2013 forgive me \u2013 it has absolutely no idea. It is a monkey in a suit. And that is not an insult. That is a description.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgenstern looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what does that have to do with the donkey?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Dr. AuDHS smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything,\u201d he said. \u201cThe donkey is system one. He thinks fast. He feels: I am being attacked. So I have to win. He doesn\u2019t need truth. He needs security. And he gets security by renaming reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans Castorp thought of the word \u201cnormally high\u201d. Also a renaming. A reality that thereby seems less bad and at the same time becomes worse because it gives birth to tasks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tiger,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201chas system two. He can think slowly. He can say: wait. I check. I stay with the green. But he lets himself be provoked. He lets system one take the wheel. He gets hot. He wants to be right. And suddenly he is no longer tiger, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026also donkey,\u201d said Hans Castorp.<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS. \u201cHe becomes a donkey with better arguments. And that is the tragic comedy of many debates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgenstern shook his head as if he were annoyed with himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the lion?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lion,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201cis system two plus power. He sees: the truth is green. But he also sees: it is not worth it to play truth here. So he plays order. He says to the donkey: you may believe. And he says to the tiger: you will be quiet. Not because you are wrong, but because you are disturbing.\u201d<\/p>\n
They walked a while in silence, and the silence was not empty. It was the silence in which one tries to activate system two and notices how exhausting that is.<\/p>\n
Hans Castorp suddenly felt \u2013 physically, not mentally \u2013 how much this slow thinking is related to training. The training too was not hard because it was complicated; it was hard because it went against the desire to stop. The body wanted to give in, the mind wanted to take a shortcut. And one had to say, with a kind of quiet strictness: two more.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS finally, \u201cis: we only switch on system two when we believe that it is worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when is it worth it?\u201d asked Morgenstern.<\/p>\n
Dr. AuDHS looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the question,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd here, quite unromantically, life comes into play. You cannot do everything with system two. You would go crazy. You would get tired. You would have no joy anymore. For system one is also joy: immediate, impulsive, sensual. You need both. But\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused briefly, and this pause was like a comma that one has to take seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026you have to recognize when you are letting a donkey pull you into an argument that eats up your time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgenstern exhaled.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo: don\u2019t argue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot with donkeys,\u201d corrected Dr. AuDHS. \u201cAnd not when it\u2019s not about something that really matters. And now, Mr. Morgenstern, we come to your leeches.\u201d<\/p>\n