This reminds me of another similar system in which a single action means little, but once a condition is met things change: school.
I’ve specifically wondered about how sunk cost fallacy plays into these systems.
Say you believe that the value of college is only realized once you have a degree. (Oversimplified of course, on purpose.)
Purists of rationality might say that it is sunk cost fallacy to believe that you should finish the last class, since you’ve come this far (the sunk cost part).
But as this article states, the condition change is the meaningful bit; at what granularity should we measure something like sunk cost?
In other words, it’s not irrational to take a final course just to get the credit and finish the degree, even if the course seems useless, because it is a necessary step for the higher level condition change.
Sunk cost fallacy would be taking and failing 3 years of college courses and deciding to continue because, "Well, I'm already three years and $30k (or more) in." Being one class or semester shy and making a decision to finish, if it gives a major payoff (starting salaries often jump substantially, some career paths are totally closed without the degree, etc.), is perfectly rational.
I decided to drop out of college with 2 classes to go.
Because a) I had reached my self-imposed deadline, b) I would have to do another full year of college for just those 2 classes[1], c) I was already having to turn away freelancing clients to make time for school, d) you don’t go into debt for college in Europe
[1] The classes were in different semesters with a mandatory weekly tutorial/lab presence, which doesn’t transfer across years
I’ve specifically wondered about how sunk cost fallacy plays into these systems.
Say you believe that the value of college is only realized once you have a degree. (Oversimplified of course, on purpose.)
Purists of rationality might say that it is sunk cost fallacy to believe that you should finish the last class, since you’ve come this far (the sunk cost part).
But as this article states, the condition change is the meaningful bit; at what granularity should we measure something like sunk cost?
In other words, it’s not irrational to take a final course just to get the credit and finish the degree, even if the course seems useless, because it is a necessary step for the higher level condition change.