Alex Hutchinson

All else being equal, it's probably worth taking a shot on that because that's the optimism in the face of uncertainty that I don't know how things are going to turn out, But being optimistic, if things do turn out, that's the one that'll make me happiest. And what the math shows is if you... Individual decisions, all bets are off. It might turn out well, it might turn out poorly.

All else being equal, it's probably worth taking a shot on that because that's the optimism in the face of uncertainty that I don't know how things are going to turn out, But being optimistic, if things do turn out, that's the one that'll make me happiest. And what the math shows is if you... Individual decisions, all bets are off. It might turn out well, it might turn out poorly.

But in the long term, if you're optimistic in the face of uncertainty, this will minimize your regret. This will minimize you looking back and saying, I wish I had done that. And I think that makes intuitive sense as well as mathematical sense. It's like, you don't look back and say...

But in the long term, if you're optimistic in the face of uncertainty, this will minimize your regret. This will minimize you looking back and saying, I wish I had done that. And I think that makes intuitive sense as well as mathematical sense. It's like, you don't look back and say...

But in the long term, if you're optimistic in the face of uncertainty, this will minimize your regret. This will minimize you looking back and saying, I wish I had done that. And I think that makes intuitive sense as well as mathematical sense. It's like, you don't look back and say...

you're more likely to look back and say, I wish I had asked that person to dance than I really regret asking that person to dance and they said no.

you're more likely to look back and say, I wish I had asked that person to dance than I really regret asking that person to dance and they said no.

you're more likely to look back and say, I wish I had asked that person to dance than I really regret asking that person to dance and they said no.

Yeah, I wasn't sure how mathematical to get. Regret in the mathematical sense is, it's the difference between What outcome you got and the best you could have gotten if you'd magically made all the right choices. Nobody has a crystal ball, so nobody can make all the right choices all the time. But regret is like... Often, you can think of these sort of decision trees as gambling games.

Yeah, I wasn't sure how mathematical to get. Regret in the mathematical sense is, it's the difference between What outcome you got and the best you could have gotten if you'd magically made all the right choices. Nobody has a crystal ball, so nobody can make all the right choices all the time. But regret is like... Often, you can think of these sort of decision trees as gambling games.

Yeah, I wasn't sure how mathematical to get. Regret in the mathematical sense is, it's the difference between What outcome you got and the best you could have gotten if you'd magically made all the right choices. Nobody has a crystal ball, so nobody can make all the right choices all the time. But regret is like... Often, you can think of these sort of decision trees as gambling games.

In reality, we may be talking about careers or dating decisions, but it's like, I bet $5 on this, I bet $10 on that. Which machine should I bet on? And maybe the best you could have done in a series of 10 bets is getting $100. And if you made a series of bets and ended up with $70, your regret is $30. Right. So that's the mathematical way of thinking about it.

In reality, we may be talking about careers or dating decisions, but it's like, I bet $5 on this, I bet $10 on that. Which machine should I bet on? And maybe the best you could have done in a series of 10 bets is getting $100. And if you made a series of bets and ended up with $70, your regret is $30. Right. So that's the mathematical way of thinking about it.

In reality, we may be talking about careers or dating decisions, but it's like, I bet $5 on this, I bet $10 on that. Which machine should I bet on? And maybe the best you could have done in a series of 10 bets is getting $100. And if you made a series of bets and ended up with $70, your regret is $30. Right. So that's the mathematical way of thinking about it.

And because nobody is perfect, nobody has clairvoyance, regret always increases, which is kind of a depressing thing to say. But there's no way of going through life without accumulating some regrets of thinking, I kind of wish I had asked her to dance, not the other one. Yeah. We accumulate regret. But so the goal is not to eliminate regret because that's impossible, but to minimize regret.

And because nobody is perfect, nobody has clairvoyance, regret always increases, which is kind of a depressing thing to say. But there's no way of going through life without accumulating some regrets of thinking, I kind of wish I had asked her to dance, not the other one. Yeah. We accumulate regret. But so the goal is not to eliminate regret because that's impossible, but to minimize regret.

And because nobody is perfect, nobody has clairvoyance, regret always increases, which is kind of a depressing thing to say. But there's no way of going through life without accumulating some regrets of thinking, I kind of wish I had asked her to dance, not the other one. Yeah. We accumulate regret. But so the goal is not to eliminate regret because that's impossible, but to minimize regret.

And the math shows that this kind of optimism in the face of uncertainty is one way of guaranteeing that over the long term, your regret will increase as slowly as is realistically possible unless you find the magic genie with the three wishes.

And the math shows that this kind of optimism in the face of uncertainty is one way of guaranteeing that over the long term, your regret will increase as slowly as is realistically possible unless you find the magic genie with the three wishes.

And the math shows that this kind of optimism in the face of uncertainty is one way of guaranteeing that over the long term, your regret will increase as slowly as is realistically possible unless you find the magic genie with the three wishes.