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I'm not suggesting that heroin use is something I'd support, just that I don't think we can say for someone else what their own best interest is, and the fact t
by randallsquared 18y ago
I'm not suggesting that heroin use is something I'd support, just that I don't think we can say for someone else what their own best interest is, and the fact that people go back to heroin after being clean suggests that it is worth all the downsides, in their value system, if not mine and yours.
- scott_s 18y agoPeople rarely make fully rational decisions. Addicts succumb, they don't decide to start using again.
- randallsquared 18y agoBut "succumb" is merely a pejorative for the decision to indicate that you (we) don't approve. It's not necessarily an inappropriate pejorative, of course. I think there's a case to be made that if you think someone is making a decision irrationally, then either you are asserting that their brain is literally functioning incorrectly, or you aren't taking into account their preferences and goals. If you assume that people rarely fully disclose their preferences and goals due to fear of the effects of such disclosure, it removes a whole lot of irrationality from your view of the world.
- scott_s 18y agoNo, I'm using it because I'm imagining myself in their position. My references are milder - such as succumbing to hitting the snooze alarm again, doing less reps in the gym, or eating something that I know is bad for me. I am not claiming people's brains are functioning incorrectly. I am instead claiming that normal brain function is more irrational than most like to believe. We are mostly irrational creatures; it takes significant mental effort for us to make strictly rational decisions. All of the research I've read on the topic supports what I'm saying.