[philh]

> the values of which cannot be measured in mere terms of probabilities or money.

Sure they can. I'll pay $X for insurance but I won't pay $Y. Peace of mind is worth somewhere between $X and $Y to me. If I offer someone $Z to never play the lottery again, they'll either take it or not. If they take it, they valued those particular dreams less than $Z. (Unless $Z is high enough to fulfill some of those dreams, but I suspect many people would accept a $Z which is not so high.)

There's no simple trade-off where I'll always accept some number of units of money for some number of units of peace of mind; but the same is true of cars.