Top all-time · #7780
Lionel Page
Personal blog · optimallyirrational.comeconomicsphilosophy
Lionel Page writes Optimally Irrational, a personal blog at optimallyirrational.com about economics and philosophy. Since 2024, 10 different Hacker News readers have linked it 33 times, most often “The aim of maximising happiness is doomed to fail as a public policy”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-27, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN commenters link Lionel Page's posts on national economic comparisons, rationalist-style essays, AI, and the hedonic treadmill. Comments mostly cite the posts as support for their own arguments.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Deciphering why people and society work the way they do.
Most-linked posts?
- The aim of maximising happiness is doomed to fail as a public policy2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-11-27
- The Focusing Illusion2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-08-28
- We use ambiguous statements, innuendos, and hints, explained with Seinfeld2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-05-30
- There are no moral laws out there2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-11-29
- Democracy without illusions: a realist view2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-03-26
What Hacker News says?
The US is a large, diverse population across a large land area. Major variation is to be expected. But there is also that famous stat that income in Mississippi is on par with Britain or France. https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/03/07/still-tr... https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/its-great-to-live-in-t... I agree with deepsun that the comparison factor is huge here: https://www.optimallyirrational.co…
Comment linking /p/the-aim-of-maximising-happiness-is
on “Why America's economy is soaring ahead of its rivals”Submitted The game theory of seduction and marriage with Jane Austen as a story · 146 points
HN discussionI would encourage you to consult the aforementioned figures if my observation is not shared by you. - https://www.optimallyirrational.com/p/how-ai-will-revolution... - https://philpapers.org/rec/ELSHAS (via Sci-Hub)
Comment linking /p/how-ai-will-revolutionise-peer-reviewed
on “Why is every rationalist blog post way too long?”Submitted The Focusing Illusion as a story · 22 points
HN discussionI read this blog post the other day about the hedonic treadmill that influenced my thinking a lot: https://www.optimallyirrational.com/p/the-aim-of-maximising-... Consider this 1940s ad for a "house that runs like magic", powered by gas: https://wip.gatspress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/AGAAd-1... I'm already living this dream life from the 1940s. I have a range, a refrigerator, "permanent hot springs", heating,…
Comment linking /p/the-aim-of-maximising-happiness-is
on “The world of tomorrow”Submitted The layers of strategic thinking behind our everyday conversations as a story · 15 points
HN discussionSame as with the original dilemma. Most people are not sociopaths and will choose to cooperate with empathy for everyone else. That's just how species survive and adapt. (1) Alternatively, some people believe that sustained cooperation is in itself a sustained equilibrium. (2) Most of the world is not as individualistic as Silicon Valley engineers believe in their own ivory towers after decades of reading Ayn Rand.…
Comment linking /p/the-true-story-of-the-birth-of-the
on “If more than 50% press blue, everyone survives. Red pressers always survive”Submitted There are no moral laws out there as a story · 13 points
HN discussionSubmitted Depression – What is it and what is it for? as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted What are we doing on social media? as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Power to the Laypeople as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted We set ever higher goals: The psychology of chasing our potential as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why has sociology become so politicised? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The game theory of political power as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Are universities on the brink of an Uber-like revolution? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Will AI stop us getting ripped off? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Truth about Fairness as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Democracy without illusions: a realist view as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The game theory of strategic ambiguity explained with Seinfeld as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The market failures of the marketplace of ideas as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The aim of maximising happiness is doomed to fail as a public policy as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Happiness and the pursuit of meaningful life, an evolutionary perspective as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Focusing Illusion as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The truth about happiness: We are designed to long for it, not to get it as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Strategically Delusional as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted We use ambiguous statements, innuendos, and hints, explained with Seinfeld as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The reality of our "influence" on social media as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Truth About Self-Deception as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Should robots be considered as slaves? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted There are no moral laws out there as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
