[sakisv]

Not the original person you replied to, but as far as I'm concerned there are a few questions that could very easily indicate which side of the line is something.

E.g.

- Is it addictive?

- Does it have the potential to destroy lives?

- Does it have the potential to destroy lives in seconds?

- Does it have a strong lobbying mechanism behind it? (n.b. things that are good and nice rarely need someone to bribe people to accept them)

or simply:

- Would you be worried if your child did it?

I think the number of "yes" that you get draws a very clear line.

[jmkd]

Your question ramp makes sense to me except in two ways: 1. why this "destroy lives in seconds?" question? 2. where do you see sugar sitting here?

[ambicapter]

He's obviously talking about alcohol (it takes seconds to consume an amount of alcohol that can result in death, yours or someone else's from a fight or car crash) and firearms (should be obvious).

Sounds like you're implying some sort of mischaracterization of sugar here which minimizes the former in a weird way.

[sakisv]

I wanted to draw the distinction between something that destroys lives over a longer period of time (smoking) VS something like gambling where you could lose your life's savings in seconds.

The alcohol mentioned in a sibling comment also ticks the box.

For the sugar, I'd say yes, no, no, yes and "not too much, but I'm keeping an eye out".

[egorfine]

These questions sound very rational until you realize that sugar, performance cars, military technology and history lessons can tick all those boxes.

[submerge]

Can you recommend a history lesson that will destroy my life in seconds? Book, podcast, youtube would all be acceptable formats.

[whattheheckheck]

Tim Snyders videos

[submerge]

Maybe I haven't seen enough of his videos. They seem generally informative? Perhaps a bit depressing but I wouldn't say that watching a Tim Snyder video can ruin your life like gambling can.

[hn_acc1]

Ok, so add "is it easy / quick / cheap to acquire?". Performance cars (I take measured risks at the race track) and track days / race tires aren't cheap. Not in any sense of the word.

Unsafe driving in ANY car? Yes - but that's already illegal.

[subscribed]

Performance cars are very cheap to acquire temporarily.

I can literally book right now, for 4 long laps, for £99 any of the following (and that's a a very small subset of 30 similar cars): Lotus Evora / GTR 1200bhp / Lamborghini Gallardo / Dodge Viper SRT VX / Huracan... Unless you'd say these are not performance cars?

[schubidubiduba]

Not sure if the history lessons are a joke, but sugar is rightfully taxed or otherwise disincentivized in many countries, because it is highly harmful to society as a whole. Sports cars definitely get some yes answers, and are also rightfully taxed in several countries.

Military technology may be an exception as "necessary evil", but also is a bad example because it id not consumer-oriented.

[egorfine]

As a Ukrainian I can tell you that deaths from history lessons are pretty much not a joke.