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Would you play Russian roulette for ten dollars? If not, what is it that stops you, and why is it irrational for that same reason to make people not want to di
by philh 12y ago
Would you play Russian roulette for ten dollars?
If not, what is it that stops you, and why is it irrational for that same reason to make people not want to die of other causes?
- rwmj 12y agoThe OP's net present value of future earnings is likely to be much bigger than $10, so why is it irrational for him to play Russian roulette for so little money?
- philh 12y agoIf OP doesn't want to do it, it would be irrational for ver to do it. That's not true of all decisions, but I think it holds in this case. But, I'm a little confused, because > The OP's net present value of future earnings is likely to be much bigger than $10 would seem like an argument against playing. So I'm not sure if you were trying to say something that went completely over my head?
- madaxe_again 12y agoNo, because the marginal utility of $10 is inadequate to me. I didn't say that not wanting to die is irrational, but that fearing death abstractedly is. Not wanting to die is rational from an anthropocentric/evolutionary biology point of view, as continuing life increases the odds of genetic and memetic propagation. It isn't rational, however, as an external observer might see it. I suppose it depends on what the "goal" of human life is. If it is simply "to be", then it's a self-fulfilling goal and of null value in an objective argument. So - what stops me is that same instinct for preserving the self and/or ones genes. It does not mean, however, that I have not accepted the fact that I will, one day, die, and the fact that it really doesn't matter. I won't be here to care.