{
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  "id": "32twvbqnvy27k3zk7pq4zz5ywm",
  "kind": "fragment",
  "origin": "https://www.msweet.net/notes/",
  "page": "018-pearl-bitterns",
  "author": {
    "name": "Matthew McDowell-Sweet",
    "url": "https://www.msweet.net/"
  },
  "created": "2026-08-05T21:21:48Z",
  "updated": "2026-08-05T21:21:48Z",
  "version": 1,
  "content_md": "What I asked: Under a Rawlsian \\*veil of ignorance — but optimizing for minimum opportunity cost of an arbitrary act of agency rather than Rawls’ justice-focused maximin — which society or era would one choose to be born into.\n\nAnswer: A present-day, high-freedom, high-GDP liberal democracy.\n\nRationale: since the act is unspecified, you want the position that minimizes opportunity cost regardless of what you end up trying to do — which favors general capability (rights, mobility, information, economic security) over betting on a historically “pivotal” moment that only pays off for specific high-leverage acts.\n\nOn reconsideration: held up because the veil also hides your position within the society — so a hinge-moment bet risks landing you not as the influential actor but as someone with no power at all, stacking a second bad draw on top of the first. High-capability societies have a much tighter floor, so they stay the lower-variance, lower-regret choice.\n\nImplication: confirms time and space is a high percentage of one’s destiny.\n\n\\*Mistyped as Neil of Ignorance; strikes me as a real good Culture Ship name.",
  "content_html": "<p>What I asked: Under a Rawlsian *veil of ignorance — but optimizing for minimum opportunity cost of an arbitrary act of agency rather than Rawls’ justice-focused maximin — which society or era would one choose to be born into.</p>\n<p>Answer: A present-day, high-freedom, high-GDP liberal democracy.</p>\n<p>Rationale: since the act is unspecified, you want the position that minimizes opportunity cost regardless of what you end up trying to do — which favors general capability (rights, mobility, information, economic security) over betting on a historically “pivotal” moment that only pays off for specific high-leverage acts.</p>\n<p>On reconsideration: held up because the veil also hides your position within the society — so a hinge-moment bet risks landing you not as the influential actor but as someone with no power at all, stacking a second bad draw on top of the first. High-capability societies have a much tighter floor, so they stay the lower-variance, lower-regret choice.</p>\n<p>Implication: confirms time and space is a high percentage of one’s destiny.</p>\n<p>*Mistyped as Neil of Ignorance; strikes me as a real good Culture Ship name.</p>",
  "content_hash": "sha256:449bf259eafd3f788ef404fa964bc051100baedf7331096deb7d2d1f7ce27e73",
  "media": [],
  "changelog": [
    {
      "version": 1,
      "at": "2026-08-05T21:21:48Z",
      "note": null
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}