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Comment by vixen99 | Hacker News Reader

That's not an equivalent third option unless you're in a position to afford it.

Afford means different things for necessities and luxury goods, so, semantics

A luxury can easily become a "necessity" with increases in purchasing power and/or a decreases in product prices.

An anecdotal example. I purchased a home last year which did not have AC. The previous owners lived in the house for over 20 years with out ever "needing" an air conditioner. My wife and I did not make it to the summer before installing an AC. I have no doubt I could have survived without an AC but why bother? Its cheap (relatively speaking) and improves my quality of life.

It's also very dependent on personal adaptation. If you've always lived in an airconditioned space then you're not used to dealing with the heat. The previous owners likely were, and consequently were less bothered by it.

Putting food on the table isn't really a concern if you're all dead from heat exposure. Sounds like AC has just become a basic human need in some areas.

There are people living in 3rd world tropical countries who commonly experience 40C who might disagree with your "dead from heat exposure".

Yep, and some of those people die because of it. The temperature is CHANGING from their normal to extremes. People aren't prepared, that's the point.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/world/asia/india-heat-wav...

Same with countries in the middle east. When I was in Iraq during the summer, it would normally be ~120F in the shade during the day, and get up to the 130-140 range in direct sunlight. It's not like the villages without stable power or AC had people dropping dead from heat all the time, they dressed appropriately and would only do physical activities in the morning and evening. During the hottest part of the day they'd hang around inside out of the sun and relax. You'd still get hot and sweaty, but you wouldn't die.

Those people have been living in those temperatures for thousands of years. Their culture thrives in it. When heat waves hit temperate areas, people are not prepared. You sit out there in 140 degrees, and you're not going to survive very long without the knowledge to do so. Look at the animals dying in the polar regions, as their cold habitats warm up. No different.

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