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You're baiting for some weirdo definition of "optimization". If "migrating to America" is not optimizing for something, then not sure what you mean by optimization.
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Building a model, defining an objective function, computing it over available options (on a spreadsheet), and going with the one that scores the best. That's what optimization is, and it's literally what a lot of rationalist types do. Definitely not how I ended up in the US.
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I landed here mainly through a mix of imitation and preference ordering. "Oh my friends are going to the US and seem happy there.... and it seems like a better idea than staying in India" is hardly optimization.
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meh, everything is a type of optimization if you are willing to squint enough, which makes it a tautological label... it's only interesting if there's a conscious process
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The Econ/fin analogue is Utility-maximisation Vs no-arbitrage. I've never u-maxed your life, but you've changed behaviour in situations where it felt like you might be leaving good stuff on the table.
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