3 ms·

I wonder how many other cases there are of people thinking they're virtually certain to die soon, blowing all their long term resources for (rationally) a the s

by rdl 11y ago

I wonder how many other cases there are of people thinking they're virtually certain to die soon, blowing all their long term resources for (rationally) a the short time they have left, and then being "saved", only to then suffer the consequences of the earlier decisions. (Is this a common topic in psychology? Notable works of fiction?) -- sort of related to a pyrrhic victory, but without the causal relationship.

gadders 11y ago
Not entirely the same, as self-inflicted, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lotus_Eater https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lotus_Eater
ChuckMcM 11y ago
I suspect there are many. It seems people are more likely to believe doomsday scenarios than ones where everyone lives. Living past the good times was a central theme of the movie "The Grand Budapest Hotel", and the song lyric, "Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone." So for me clearly the notion is part of the shared cultural experience. My grandfather used to joke (somewhat morbidly) that everyone is afraid to die until one day they wake up and they are afraid they aren't going to die. He was always thinking about the consequences of things in the present as they rippled forward in time. Sadly, I'm not sure what we can learn from it. It is easy to say "live every day as if it is your last, it may be." but "Save things to do later, later might be a lot longer than you think?" doesn't work so well. I found the stories of people living on disability most compelling. They are trapped because if they did work, that work would disqualify them from their income, and how they know they are not going to die any time soon. So they can't step out of the life boat for fear that they will still be alive and now with zero financial support. If ever there was a situation of the heart in conflict with itself that is it.
- rdl 11y ago
  Yeah -- the heartless-but-logically-correct thing is to be more ruthless in enforcing disability tests, so if working is a possibility, you have to work. But that's horrible, too. Another argument for Basic Income.

by rdl 11y ago

gadders 11y ago

Not entirely the same, as self-inflicted, but: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lotus_Eater https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lotus_Eater

ChuckMcM 11y ago

I suspect there are many. It seems people are more likely to believe doomsday scenarios than ones where everyone lives. Living past the good times was a central theme of the movie "The Grand Budapest Hotel", and the song lyric, "Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone." So for me clearly the notion is part of the shared cultural experience. My grandfather used to joke (somewhat morbidly) that everyone is afraid to die until one day they wake up and they are afraid they aren't going to die. He was always thinking about the consequences of things in the present as they rippled forward in time. Sadly, I'm not sure what we can learn from it. It is easy to say "live every day as if it is your last, it may be." but "Save things to do later, later might be a lot longer than you think?" doesn't work so well. I found the stories of people living on disability most compelling. They are trapped because if they did work, that work would disqualify them from their income, and how they know they are not going to die any time soon. So they can't step out of the life boat for fear that they will still be alive and now with zero financial support. If ever there was a situation of the heart in conflict with itself that is it.

rdl 11y ago
Yeah -- the heartless-but-logically-correct thing is to be more ruthless in enforcing disability tests, so if working is a possibility, you have to work. But that's horrible, too. Another argument for Basic Income.