Ship of Fools: Cost benefit analysis

Thread: Cost benefit analysis Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Chocoholic (# 4655) on :

We had a discussion at w*rk today about how most things in life that are good still have a cost associated with them, not a financial cost (but that too) but some sort of downside.

Eg my glasses help me see but they give me red patches on my nose and dents in my head.

A couple of gins will make me sluggish tomorrow.

Having a mobile phone means charging it, carrying it etc etc.

So, I started trying to think if there was anything with no downside. Anyone?

(Apologies to hosts, this could be purgatorial or even circuses, but I thought I'd float it here to start with)

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

I suspect the only answer that might satisfy your query "if there was anything with no downside" is either "no" or "God", and I think you're right that this is probably Purgatory material. Let me have a word with the people backstage and see what they think.

Cheers

Ariel
Heaven Host

Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Chocoholic:

So, I started trying to think if there was anything with no downside. Anyone?

A nice lungful of fresh air?

Posted by Chocoholic (# 4655) on :

LC, Ooh, liking that idea, I was racking my brains earlier!

Ariel - thank you, happy to go with whatever the hostly collective feel.

Posted by Uriel (# 2248) on :

Casually lurking on the Ship. Interesting reading, but you don't have to get dragged into long, tortuous threads if you don't want to.

Posted by Chocoholic (# 4655) on :

All those hours I could be Out There and Doing Something though [Biased]

not to mention my sore finger from ipad use!

Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :

Certainly everything has a cost. If you didn't do it you could do something else that has a better cost.

But costs are not quantities to be minimized in life. Incurring costs and paying the cost is what makes an economy work. Walking strengthens the bones by repeated small stresses. It can be a relaxing comfort to cook a meal and clean the dishes.

Posted by HCH (# 14313) on :

This is a discussion topic for economists who have nothing better to do.

Posted by Chocoholic (# 4655) on :

This has just called to mind something I read (or saw on TV, I don't remember) about a hermit who was given a chair, but he couldn't decide where to put it, ad kept moving it round his cell and as this was distracting him for prayer he got rid of it.

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Chocoholic:
... as [the chair] was distracting him for prayer he got rid of it.

I'm sorry, but that brought Lady Whiteadder from Blackadder to mind:

quote:
Lady Whiteadder: Wicked Child! Chairs are the work of Beelzebub! At our house Nathaniel sits on a spike!
Blackadder: And yourself?
Lady Whiteadder: I sit on Nathaniel. Two spikes would be an extravagance.

I'll see myself out. [Big Grin]

Posted by Merchant Trader (# 9007) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:

quote:
Originally posted by Chocoholic:

So, I started trying to think if there was anything with no downside. Anyone?
A nice lungful of fresh air?

quote:
oxygen is poisonous and it just takes 75-100 years to kill us

quote:
Doing without leads to a much faster demise, however.

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