The "works in progress" is a very good point to make.
It's not a bad question to ask for considering different angles, but I disagree that it should have much influence. It discourages risk-taking.
I know it's a popular meme but when people say they have no regrets, I think to myself that either 1) They are bullsh-g me (usually the case), 2) they are bullsh-g themselves, often by closing their eyes to what they missed on, and/or 3) they aren't taking enough risks.
Regret and pain are part of life. It's a fantasy, and emotionally immature, to think you will avoid them or that you have.
"May your reach exceed your grasp."
If you take a risk and it doesn't work out, you can still have no regrets because (a) it was the right thing to with the available information at the time; (b) you learnt something valuable from the experience.
Minimizing regrets to me means taking risks. It's why I joined the Marine Corps. It's why I bought my first house at 21. It's why I got married. It's why I started investing in real estate. It's why I quit my job to start a company.
If I didn't work to minimize my regrets I'd have a very dull life. Do I use it to decide whether I want Chinese or Italian? No, but when I have a major decision and I'm having a hard time deciding I give it a spin.
I'm not saying you shouldn't take risks. I just have no idea how you can come up with rule or guideline that has any basis in reality. There are tons of people who took some risk and are living with the negative repercussions but we rarely like hearing about them.
If you struggle with how to use regret minimization I'd say just see the rule above it: "Stop doing stupid shit." Your examples of "catching aids and dying, falling off the cliff, getting in racing accident, going bankrupt" mostly fall under doing stupid shit with the possible exception of going bankrupt, which could be due to bad luck (but is most often a result of doing stupid shit.)
People get in over their heads because they risk more than they're willing to lose and fail to think long-term, which is stupid shit. And often it's not just one bad decision, but a series of bad decisions that lead to catastrophic outcomes. I became a millionaire in my 20's by taking risks, but I never risked more than I was willing to lose--financially or in my marriage.
There's not a rule or decision framework for everything, at some point it comes down to common sense and judgement(which can be improved through learning). And even with our best efforts we'll make mistakes, which is expected. But it's ok to make a thousand small mistakes, you just have to avoid the big ones...like catching aids and dying, falling off the cliff, getting in racing accident...
It's not a recipe, it's a rough trajectory: some assembly (thought) required.
People can also regret not having taken a risk - so it works both ways.
But I think "regret minization" is more than just avoiding negative consequences. It's about not regreting a decision even if things go wrong - it's about being able to say "I'd do it again".
Have you ever read a news article about a subject in your field that you knew a lot about? Think about it. Remember how everything was a little bit off or a little misleading or misinformed or focused on the wrong thing? That's the case with every news article, ever, we just don't think about it most of the time.
For anything really important you'll find out about it quickly enough. Someone you know will tell you or you'll overhear something. Trying to search for important information by reading or watching news reports feels good because it satisfies our instincts to hunt and search and collect. But it's not a good use of our energy 99% of the time.
HN is a bit "meta". Here we search not for useful or important news articles, but for insightful, intelligent comments from people who actually understand what is going on. The 99% rule still applies, but at least when we find a comment like that here it is more likely to be well-informed and something we wouldn't find elsewhere.
http://dobelli.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Avoid_News_Par...
- In arguments being right isn't as important as being happy.
- Be nice, especially to people who can't do anything for you.
- Be grateful.
- Figure out what you want in this life and go for it, it's the only one you get.
- Do as much for your body as you do for your mind (i.e. workout, eat well).
- Learn to manage money.
- Stop doing stupid shit (you know what I'm talking about).
- Make decisions using the regret minimization framework. What would you regret NOT doing the most? Do that.
- Invest in yourself. You can lose everything, but you'll always have this.
- Don't watch the news.
- Don't be an asshole.
- Do be happy, you deserve it.
It's ok, we're works in progress.