Ask HN: Expected value of a $2 powerball ticket is now $4.10. Is it worth it?
With a jackpot of $1.2 billion, and odds of winning at 1:292201338, the expected pre-tax value of a $2 ticket is $4.10 before taxes, and still profitable after taxes.
If so, are you justifying it with the expected value, enjoyment, or something else?
It struck me that this is similar to the arguments for spending time/money/energy preventing "S-risks", like the very unlikely but very bad possibility of hostile AI takeover or other things talked about in the LessWrong community. Here we have an example of a precisely known magnitude of good that could come about, and a precisely known probability of it happening.
If so, are you justifying it with the expected value, enjoyment, or something else?
It struck me that this is similar to the arguments for spending time/money/energy preventing "S-risks", like the very unlikely but very bad possibility of hostile AI takeover or other things talked about in the LessWrong community. Here we have an example of a precisely known magnitude of good that could come about, and a precisely known probability of it happening.