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Everything in life is a trade off. Most smokers know its bad but smoking is not 0 benefit, otherwise people won't smoke. They accept the risk and willing to tra
by matz1 7y ago
Everything in life is a trade off. Most smokers know its bad but smoking is not 0 benefit, otherwise people won't smoke. They accept the risk and willing to trade the cost with the benefit.
- covidacct 7y ago> They accept the risk and willing to trade the cost with the benefit. This is only true at the very beginning of a smoker's habit. I know a lot of smokers. Exactly zero of them are "willing" to trade the cost for the benefit, for any meaningful definition of "willing". Addiction is hard. Many addicts rationalize, but few truly "choose".
- matz1 7y agoEven for addict, its still a choice, they choose to continue smoking because its much easier than giving up.
- darkerside 7y agoThis is a little true, but it's not all true. Just like a drowning man grabs his rescuer uncontrollably, drowning them both, there are actions you may take that you can't fully control. Sometimes a choice is being made, but it isn't being made when you think it's being made.
- munk-a 7y agoIn our society when someone is highly intoxicated they cannot legally consent to sexual activities - they do have a choice still and are deciding it... we just understand that their thought process is being extremely heavily influenced by an outside source. For an addict it becomes not a choice, I'm not absolving every addict of everything ever but addiction really screws with your brain and if you have an addictive personality you can end up feeling compelled to do something even while fully accepting you'll feel guilty about it later. From a technical & mechanical perspective the person has made a choice, from an agency perspective the scenario is less clear and we generally understand that intoxication (either through physical addictions or obsessions) can lower the responsibility of the party involved... and there are a lot of examples toward and against this point in society[1] but I don't think we can clearly consider this a choice. 1. For instance drunk driving is considered in the opposite manner where choosing to drive drunk assumes a greater responsibility, and implies a greater agency, on the actor.
- matz1 7y agoFor an addict, its still a choice between continue or work extremely hard to give it up. Sure, you can consider it not a choice, its your preference but I do consider is a choice, I think many other people do as well.
- stOneskull 7y agoThere really isn't much benefit at the beginning. It's an effort getting through not wanting to throw up. I think usually it's about being cool and a rebel.
- Kajayacht 7y agoBeing cool and a rebel is totally a benefit.
- stOneskull 7y agoha, yep. that's why we persisted. i mean, if by stopping smoking it meant you could live to one thousand years old, then yeah, it'd make a lot of people think again.
- ebertucc 7y agoPeople are not simple cost-benefit calculators, and even if they were, it's easy to screw up that calculation when 1) companies spend billions of advertising dollars each year to shift the perceived benefit (+ network effects reaped from years prior), and 2) you don't have experience with potentially addictive substances. Once you're hooked, it's no longer a fair fight, particularly if you have a susceptible personality.
- matz1 7y ago>People are not simple cost-benefit calculators, and even if they were, it's easy to screw up that calculation Yes of course there could be other entity that try to shift my perceived but its still on me to take that into account. >Once you're hooked, it's no longer a fair fight Life is never fair. if I have a susceptible personality, that mean I just have to fight it harder than other people.
- umvi 7y ago> They accept the risk and willing to trade the cost with the benefit. The cost doesn't come until much later (sometimes never). Most smokers secretly hope they'll never have to pay the piper. For the majority of smokers, they are probably full of regret when the bill finally comes due and cuts their life 20 years short (and/or makes the last few years utter misery).
- matz1 7y agoThen never regret, accept that can choose but you may never make perfect decision.