person on deathbed: I should have lived more in the present moment my whole life... you: Ok but high time preference is only a good strategy if your future is very short or very bleak
You can pick crops more and tend them less in fertile areas. You can behave worse with peers if they're more forgiving or forgetful. You can pull more all-nighters when you're young. Shorter time horizons in decision making are adaptive, if not moral, in some non-tragic contexts.
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i don't think any of those examples require a shorter time horizon a short time horizon would be picking more crops than is sustainable. or picking only the crops you need now and not picking any for the coming winter
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I think maybe you're compressing a continuous range of discount rates into two categories, and placing the cut-off precisely where "short" = "maladaptive", but low time preference can be maladaptive too. Like anyone who lets strawberries mold in the fridge is not consuming enough
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