A New Idea of India: Individual Rights in a Civilisational State

by Harsh Gupta 'Madhusudan'

But, to paraphrase what the Chicago School economists famously asked, is it really irrational to be a chain-smoker? Who decides the costs and benefits, except the concerned individuals? Are non-religious superstitions any more rational? As Nassim Taleb writes in Skin in the Game: When we look at religion and, to some extent ancestral superstitions, we should consider what purpose they serve, rather than focusing on the notion of ‘belief’, epistemic belief in its strict scientific definition. In science, belief is literal belief; it is right or wrong, never metaphorical. In real life, belief is an instrument to do things, not the end product.