Casinos - The odds for many games are only slightly in the casino's favor. Most of my friends go to casinos because they're fun and provide entertainment, not to invest their money!
Insurance - If the man absolutely needs the lawnmower, yet can't afford a new one every two years, insurance suddenly seems more attractive. Common insurances, like car, health, life, home, etc. are based on this. After all, if you have unlimited money, you wouldn't buy insurance.
Religion - There is supposedly an eternal reward if you believe and the belief is correct. There is no reward if you don't believe, whether the belief is correct or not. Having a slight chance of an eternal reward is certainly better than having no chance at all.
My thoughts exactly. Any complete risk analysis factors in what lies on the "other side" of the event you're insuring against. Not to mention, the value of something is relative. An example:
Let's say you need a car to commute 30 miles to work (no public transit available). You have a monthly surplus income in the amount of $700 -- provided you keep your job, which means you have to show up every day. You drive a modest, but reliable, used car that cost you $8,400 to purchase. If the car were a complete loss in an accident, it would take you 12 months of surplus income to purchase a replacement. However, if the car is suddenly unavailable to you, getting to work reliably becomes an issue. Opportunity cost! In this case, it makes sense to use a portion of your surplus income to insure the car.
The same might be true of someone who relies on a lawn mower for work. A better example might be a laptop like a MacBook Pro. I use a nicely equipped MacBook Pro that cost me around $2,700 to purchase. When I was just getting started as a freelancer, I bought a 100% replacement warranty from SquareTrade.com for a couple hundred dollars because I only had enough money to buy the laptop one time. Now that I can afford to replace the laptop any time, I take the risk myself and keep the $250.
Many religions and spirituality focus on the here and now. Eternity aside, I am religiously active because I believe it is the best way to find happiness and comfort right now.
Oddly enough, it's similar in logic to your friends going to a casino. Joy is found in the Journey, not the result.
There is also a cost to having such a belief. You are adjusting your life to a religion and following its rules when you could have a much better life by not doing so. For me that slight chance of eternal reward is not worth what I would have to suppress on my own personality and "taste" for rationality. Basically, this is Pascal's wager, please read on it.
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[ 1.5 ms ] story [ 23.4 ms ] threadCasinos - The odds for many games are only slightly in the casino's favor. Most of my friends go to casinos because they're fun and provide entertainment, not to invest their money!
Insurance - If the man absolutely needs the lawnmower, yet can't afford a new one every two years, insurance suddenly seems more attractive. Common insurances, like car, health, life, home, etc. are based on this. After all, if you have unlimited money, you wouldn't buy insurance.
Religion - There is supposedly an eternal reward if you believe and the belief is correct. There is no reward if you don't believe, whether the belief is correct or not. Having a slight chance of an eternal reward is certainly better than having no chance at all.
Let's say you need a car to commute 30 miles to work (no public transit available). You have a monthly surplus income in the amount of $700 -- provided you keep your job, which means you have to show up every day. You drive a modest, but reliable, used car that cost you $8,400 to purchase. If the car were a complete loss in an accident, it would take you 12 months of surplus income to purchase a replacement. However, if the car is suddenly unavailable to you, getting to work reliably becomes an issue. Opportunity cost! In this case, it makes sense to use a portion of your surplus income to insure the car.
The same might be true of someone who relies on a lawn mower for work. A better example might be a laptop like a MacBook Pro. I use a nicely equipped MacBook Pro that cost me around $2,700 to purchase. When I was just getting started as a freelancer, I bought a 100% replacement warranty from SquareTrade.com for a couple hundred dollars because I only had enough money to buy the laptop one time. Now that I can afford to replace the laptop any time, I take the risk myself and keep the $250.
Oddly enough, it's similar in logic to your friends going to a casino. Joy is found in the Journey, not the result.