The Sunk Costs Fallacy

In economics we have this concept of sunk costs, referring to costs that have already been incurred, but which cannot be recouped. Sunk cost fallacy refers to the fallacy of honoring sunk costs, which decision-theoretically should just be ignored.

Julia Galef explains:

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0 1. Klemm commented 83 days ago

I had an old car i kept repairing. I put a lot of time and money into it. Rebuilt the engine, had it painted etc. But things kept failing as they tend to on an older car. At one point i realized that there is no end to parts that are going to break. But i had already invested so much.. grrr... so why not repair that current little problem and get to use it a bit more? So i did. And then another thing broke. Rinse and repeat.
Thankfully i was brought to my senses when i found that rust had eaten a large hole thru the passenger side footwell. Managed to sell it to some racing guys who basically just wanted it for the engine.
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+1 2. thefox commented 82 days ago

#1 By a gradual replacement of numerous parts of the vehicle, a point would eventually be reached when nothing remains of your original car. Reminds me of Trigger's Broom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAh8HryVaeY