it's not just that. when there's a big jackpot at a casino at the slot machines (i.e. the jackpot hasn't been paid for a long, long time) and it is so large th

it's not just that. when there's a big jackpot at a casino at the slot machines (i.e. the jackpot hasn't been paid for a long, long time) and it is so large that the expected value of each drop of a quarter actually has positive expected value, by enough of a margin, someone with a huge bankroll comes along and hires teams of people to monopolize the slot machines until one wins, paying them by the hour. you can't do that. so, when you're faced with depositing a quarter, does it really matter if the expected value is positive or negative? No, due to the variance - not due to how risk-averse you are, simply due to the variance. Likewise at a startup: you only have one life, in which you can only do so many. The more you can do, the less the variance and the more the expected value comes into play. Of course Microsoft or Warren Buffett would never 'invest' in lottery tickets when these have a negative expected value; they can buy hundreds of thousands or millions of them. When I buy one lottery ticket, I can buy one, or ten, but basically I have just one. Only the variance matters. it's not about risk-averse or -tolerant. it's about utility. people who say "math is a tax on people who are bad at math" simply don't know what they're talking about. People who are stuck in a hopeless life that would be changed by $1 million have just as rational a reason to play the lottery given a negative or positive expected return. one wonders if the lottery had to be subsidized by corporations, and everyone could only buy one to five tickets (if they wanted) each with an expected value slightly above one, then would mathematicians start buying 5 lottery tickets each? It has nothing to do with risk-benefit ratio. Even if God could somehow guarantee you access to googolplex googolplex googolplex dollars, but there was only a one in googolplex googolplex chance of your winning it, it would not even be worth the breath to say 'ok' -- try saying that googolplex times -- let alone a penny. Yet the expected value of that proposition is googolplex dollars! So, it's a false 'rationally' to claim that it is worth far more than a penny (given God's guarantee). it's worth nothing. it's not about risk-averse or whatever. it's simple rationality as an agent who experiences utility here on Earth. God's proposition is worthless.