[NoMoreNicksLeft]

> at what point is money to extend my life better applied to others?

Depends on who the others are. If it's applied to my children, or other family, or even (possibly) really close friends... sane decisions result.

If on the other hand, it were you mihpdx (I don't believe we've ever met), then the money is always better applied to me. You could drop dead tomorrow, I wouldn't know, and I wouldn't much care if I did somehow find out. Our interests aren't even slightly aligned. Call me a monster if you like. But understand very carefully that most people are like me, even the ones pretending (mostly for social status) that they are the opposite.

> but I know it’s a decision that is being made irrationally.

It's not being made irrationally. Not even slightly. What's happening, is that some really big dorkwads are insisting that my interests (and many other people's) are different than they are. So when we act in ways that rationally move us towards our goals, these people start screeching that we're irrational. Or that "acting against our own interests".

Our collective actions are just some hodgepodge mixture of people acting and counter-acting against each other.