This nails it. I'd go further to say that there are real world issues that compound the variables. Namely that individual actions increasingly have global cons

This nails it. I'd go further to say that there are real world issues that compound the variables. Namely that individual actions increasingly have global consequences eg. individual purchasing behaviors have externalities that the market is not pricing in and thus fall to the consumer to have to calculate. Further, given that these global issues these kinds of calculations are game theoretic by their nature, making it even more complicated.