I don't like to think anyone is hopeless. That's because to be truly hopeless requires mathematical certainty, which usually isn't possible in the real world. I

I don't like to think anyone is hopeless. That's because to be truly hopeless requires mathematical certainty, which usually isn't possible in the real world. In the real world, we don't know everything; there are always unknowns. Where there are unknowns, there is a chance; there is hope. Giving love and care and respect to these alcoholics... I would expect that that might help some of them to recover. The article doesn't mention it, but I wonder if some do recover. It certainly seems economically justifiable. Which doesn't necessarily make it right, since an economic analysis doesn't take into account all the factors. A society that starts to classify some people as hopeless and give up on them, may gradually widen its definition of hopeless. Whereas some of the greatest benefits and victories for society seem to come from goals that seemed impossible, aka hopeless. If we undermine that, we will be the worse for it.