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Comment by zb3 | Hacker News Reader

If I knew I'd die in <10 years then I'd vote for the "short term" solution and believe or not - this would NOT be irrational on my end.

People might have different interests and they vote for themselves.

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Well, if you have kids you care about, you might rethink that. That's what a lot of people do, or they believe they do.

Would that be irrational then? Or just selfish? Or both, or neither?

Boomers seem to hate their children. I dont think it's a strong effect on future planning.

39% of US adults think they live in the end times, and 10% think Jesus will definitely show up in their lifetime. Given those priors, planning ahead probably seems like the less rational choice for them.

I care about them hence I didn't make them. "Having kids" is the most selfish thing in my view.

Can you define "rational" here?

Most rational people where I live also consider the wellbeing of others and will make decisions (and even vote) to make sure others live well besides them.

Is you defition of rationality basically "maximum selfishness and extraction of benefits from others"?

I also consider the wellbeing of others (hence I don't harm them but more importantly - I didn't bring them to life), but I see rational voting as voting for myself - since others can also vote for themselves.

Individual rational self interest is for the country to optimize for GDP per capita. It's in the interest of corporations and their lobbyists to optimize only for top line GDP. The former would probably be called populism.

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