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i don't know why you claim it's rational to be a free rider with one breath and in the next explain how it isn't rational. only considering immediate considerat

i don't know why you claim it's rational to be a free rider with one breath and in the next explain how it isn't rational. only considering immediate considerations and immediate consequences doesn't have to be what rationality is. only considering your own self and your own interests doesn't have to be what rationality is. rationality is a nebulous term and i see people far to often use the word to refer to stupid selfishness and short sightedness. if people tend to do something because it's easier for them but that will come the long way round and bite them, and a lot of other people, in the end then that's a demonstration of a failure of human to be rational.

smallnamespace 9y ago
You're absolutely right that the word 'rational' is so overloaded that it can be nearly meaningless -- that's why I qualified it with 'selfish'. We do need to draw distinctions between consequences that are immediately faced by the decisionmaker, vs. the long-term consequences to the group. Note that even if you do care about the long-term consequences to the group, it may still be narrowly rational to decide not to immunize. After all, your own individual decision is only going to have a tiny impact on whether herd immunity persists in your community, but will have a much greater impact on yourself. This is the same logic over why companies pollute, people litter, fishermen overfish -- there is a 'commons problem' where people collectively benefit from collaboration, but selfish individuals can benefit by defecting and free-riding. If one can't see how selfish behavior may appear rational, then it becomes very difficult to figure out how to structure norms and incentives to encourage group cooperation.