Everett's Cat's Shortform

post by Everett's Cat (Everetts Cat) · 2024-12-11T20:08:18.161Z · LW · GW · 2 comments

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comment by Everett's Cat (Everetts Cat) · 2024-12-11T02:19:18.291Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

In conversing with people that state the alleged shooter of Brian Thompson, CEO of United Health, Luigi Mangione ruined his life by carrying out an act that to him seemed necessary and activist.

I have trouble with these quick assessment, that he ruined his life. In an attempt at thinking rationally about this situation. My first thoughts, outside of this is a horrible event that happened, is did Mangione really "ruin his life," and if so, how might one dictate or navigate statements, that such person ruined their life by conducting such an act. What might be a way to evaluate such an immediate take such as the ones I hear in similar cases?

Replies from: Viliam
↑ comment by Viliam · 2024-12-12T08:06:14.858Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

In life you make choices; usually you lose something and you gain something. There are two ways to interpret the statement that he "ruined his life":

  • that the cost he paid was a predictable decrease in his quality of everyday life, as he goes to prison (I guess)
  • that the cost was too high compared to the gain, i.e. that the choice resulted in a net loss

The first is trivially true. The second depends on one's utility function. From certain perspective, all activists are ruining their lives. The activists seem to disagree.