Cars aren’t hypothetical. They’re real. You are deliberately misunderstanding and exaggerating my point to prove, well, I don’t even know what you’re trying to prove.

First, my point is about optimising for happiness. Running out onto a road without thinking has nothing to do with happiness.

Secondly, the risk profile between these two scenarios is completely different. In one, the OP _might_ have a slight difficulty in finding employment in the future (we actually don’t know, because there are so many variables). In the other, the OP is likely to be dead or seriously injured (which is something we actually know). These scenarios are not comparable.

As clever as your comment is, the consequences of not looking before running into the street are very immediate and very high. The consequences of the situation being discussed won’t be felt for at least a year (the runway the OP has with their severance), are hypothetical, and probably not that severe.

A lot can change in a year. There’s a lot of jobs. The OP can probably get one of them. Some employers won’t care at all about what the OP thinks they might care about.

Your risk tolerance may vary but I’m not going to do something I don’t want to do for a year because of what someone I’ve never met before might think a year or more from now.

Looking both ways is high ROI with very clear outcomes. Solo founding has a much broader set of outcomes. Even just within hireability this can cut both ways.

The original author said:

> My philosophy is that you should do what you want to do today, instead of doing something you don’t want to do because of a hypothetical future repercussion.

Even interpreting this absolutely literally, the hypothetical car would be a today problem — not a nebulous future one. “Survive the day” would, for most, seem like a present want.