[nazgulnarsil]

participating in a zero sum or negative sum game makes you, on average, poorer. we all need to play the status game, we have to keep up appearances in order to function smoothly with others in both the personal and business worlds. but explicitly reason about which activities are actually delivering the utility.

one of the ways that other people's thinking strikes me as insane (and not in a hyperbole sense, but literally insane) is not considering the alternative uses of any given chunk of money when making buying decisions. I watch time and again the people around me purchase something they want less for more money, simply because their thinking is compartmentalized i.e. the two items don't get thought of at the same time.