undefined | Better HN

0 pointsiambateman1y ago0 comments

Eh, people (including me) are very good at optimizing for short-run happiness and less-good at optimizing for longer-run happiness.

A million people a year get arrested in the US for drunk driving...and that's apparently the equilibrium. If that many people are willing to risk their lives and their freedom to save money on an Uber, it's not hard to believe that millions of people would be happy to buy beautiful waterfront property.

The risks are known but not totally apparent.

0 comments

alwa1y ago

There’s also this notion of normalcy bias: even if I accept the risk in the abstract, I genuinely believe it won’t happen to me personally.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsiambateman1y ago0 comments

Eh, people (including me) are very good at optimizing for short-run happiness and less-good at optimizing for longer-run happiness.

The risks are known but not totally apparent.

0 comments

alwa1y ago

There’s also this notion of normalcy bias: even if I accept the risk in the abstract, I genuinely believe it won’t happen to me personally.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse