isn't there a kind of statistical / informational bias here?
you can simplify the trade-off between work and pleasure as one where you need to work enough, earlier in life, to survive for some some unpredictable amount, later in life.
so when you're making the decision about how much to work, and how much to play, you have incomplete data - you don't know when you will die.
but when you are dying, you do have that data. with hindsight, you can decide exactly how much work was necessary. then it's easy to say "damn, i still have x dollars left that the kids will enjoy instead of me". but only with the hindsight you don't have when you're making the decision.
now you can argue that what this means is that we should shift the balance beforehand. so that less people are regretting some money in the bank, and more are dying from neglect / starvation / lack of care because they don't have money late in life. but if i had a choice, i think i'd rather have worked a little too much, than face that.
so this regret seems like a natural, predictable outcome, based on the lack of information (about the time of our own deaths) and asymmetry of outcomes that we face.
[of course, you can argue that (1) the above is a very simple model and (2) we can still adapt - for example, to try find more interesting work - while alive. i am not arguing with those points, only pointing out regret may be the optimal solution to at least one simple model]
Also the pithy wisdom of people who can wish all they want without consequences. Say anything, especially if it sounds profound.
Perhaps the author figured out that most folks think of the same pseudo-profound things when they're dying. I'd kind of like to hear the list of unique thoughts.
you can simplify the trade-off between work and pleasure as one where you need to work enough, earlier in life, to survive for some some unpredictable amount, later in life.
so when you're making the decision about how much to work, and how much to play, you have incomplete data - you don't know when you will die.
but when you are dying, you do have that data. with hindsight, you can decide exactly how much work was necessary. then it's easy to say "damn, i still have x dollars left that the kids will enjoy instead of me". but only with the hindsight you don't have when you're making the decision.
now you can argue that what this means is that we should shift the balance beforehand. so that less people are regretting some money in the bank, and more are dying from neglect / starvation / lack of care because they don't have money late in life. but if i had a choice, i think i'd rather have worked a little too much, than face that.
so this regret seems like a natural, predictable outcome, based on the lack of information (about the time of our own deaths) and asymmetry of outcomes that we face.
[of course, you can argue that (1) the above is a very simple model and (2) we can still adapt - for example, to try find more interesting work - while alive. i am not arguing with those points, only pointing out regret may be the optimal solution to at least one simple model]