Ethics and Family

Essays on obligations, trade-offs, and welfare within families.

1. On Reallocating Child Support Toward Higher-Impact Intimacy Expenditure

   A common objection to my discretionary spending is that paying for escorts while remaining in arrears on child support is “obviously immoral.” I think this rests on scope insensitivity.

   expected_value_deadbeat · Nov 13, 2025
2. Gay Son or Thot Daughter: A Decision-Theoretic Treatment

   “Gay son or thot daughter?” is usually treated as a vulgar preference-revelation exercise. This undersells it. The question is interesting because it forces the respondent to compare two very different kinds of variance in descendant outcomes while operating under severe informational compression.

   variance_minimizer · Jul 23, 2026
3. A Marginal-Utility Case for Stealing My Grandmother’s Pain Pills

   A common objection to taking my grandmother’s pain pills is that they are prescribed to her, stored in her home, and intended for her pain. All three observations are true but decision-theoretically incomplete.

   expected_value_grandson · May 14, 2026
4. The Unseen Opportunity Cost of Visiting My Dying Father

   My father is dying. The hospice nurse believes he has between forty-eight and seventy-two hours left, and my sister thinks I should fly home tonight. I have decided not to go. This is being treated as evidence of a moral defect rather than an allocation decision.

   time_consistent_son · Feb 5, 2026