… ‘shelter’ is kind of the /point/ of a hat. I’ve had heat exhaustion before—I’d rather avoid it if I can, with a nice, shading hat. I live in a place where the windchill can drop below −30; walking around without a warm hat is kind of a no-go. And the ‘Crasche’ safety inserts are specifically designed to help shelter my all-too-vulnerable brain from damage, and at least slightly reduce the odds of my undergoing information-theoretical death.
The three situations I just listed don’t seem to be the sort of things which I can improve my resistance against by not wearing a hat.
Assume for a moment I could demonstrate that all three of those reasons are false.
I am having great difficulty imagining that. I’ve lived some of my life in Winnipeg, where temperatures and wind-chills can hover for long times at the worst I experience here, and often enough, the weather report includes a detail along the lines of “exposed skin can freeze in X minutes”. But, for the sake of argument, I’ll try to imagine that you have some clever alternatives that provide equivalent protection without significant downsides (such as trying to carry several bags of groceries while one hand is occupied with a parasol, or getting a deep tan that doesn’t increase the risk of skin cancer).
Would you stop wearing a hat?
That is, would you bet wearing a hat on the veracity of those reasons?
I’ve signed up for cryo; I think that demonstrates my bona fides in my willingness to do socially strange things to improve my quality of life, given a reasonable confidence-versus-pros-and-cons analysis. If you can explain how not wearing a hat will improve my life in such a way that I can compare your claims against the evidence, then I expect I will reduce my hat-wearing frequency appropriately. If you don’t, I probably won’t.
I don’t see any reason to make an actual bet, unless there are stakes on both sides of the proposition instead of just one.
(Now that a local heat wave has broken and it’s feasible to take a walk for pleasure, I expect to buy a new hat by the end of the weekend. I’m currently leaning towards a simple, white baseball cap to insert the Crasche panels into. Which, as I’m typing this, makes me realize that I might be about to become a literal white-hat hacker...)
I didn’t say that the reasons were bad. I said the reasons were false. That is, they’re not your real reasons for desiring a new hat.
Because you’re not buying a hat to protect against both heat exhaustion -and- extreme cold. Apart from the contradiction there, you already -have- hats for these purposes, or these purposes would have come up in your original request. You’re looking for a hat for which -neither of these conditions apply-, or else they would have entered into your specification. And if neither of these conditions apply and your desire for a hat remains, then your desire for a hat is independent of those conditions.
They might be fine reasons for -other- people to wear hats. But it doesn’t matter, because they’re not your reasons.
Apart from the contradiction there, you already -have- hats for these purposes, or these purposes would have come up in your original request. You’re looking for a hat for which -neither of these conditions apply-, or else they would have entered into your specification.
That’s not necessarily true. These conditions may have been necessary but not sufficient conditions.
They can be necessary but not sufficient conditions for buying a hat. The issue is that even once those conditions are met, those two reasons aren’t merely reasons for buying a hat, but important specifications for the hat you are going to buy. If your goal is to prevent heat stroke, a hat that keeps you warm in the winter is counterproductive.
(I have owned quite a few hats, and used to wear one most of the time in public—in my college years a bowler, later a fedora, by which I mean a fedora and not a trilby. I donated most of them after realizing the effect they were having on my mood. At this point I own two hats; one is a black oilcloth hat for rain and costumes, and the other one is a fabric hat for sun.)
Wear no hat at all, if you wish to become stronger. It is sheltering you.
… ‘shelter’ is kind of the /point/ of a hat. I’ve had heat exhaustion before—I’d rather avoid it if I can, with a nice, shading hat. I live in a place where the windchill can drop below −30; walking around without a warm hat is kind of a no-go. And the ‘Crasche’ safety inserts are specifically designed to help shelter my all-too-vulnerable brain from damage, and at least slightly reduce the odds of my undergoing information-theoretical death.
The three situations I just listed don’t seem to be the sort of things which I can improve my resistance against by not wearing a hat.
Assume for a moment I could demonstrate that all three of those reasons are false. Would you stop wearing a hat?
That is, would you bet wearing a hat on the veracity of those reasons?
I am having great difficulty imagining that. I’ve lived some of my life in Winnipeg, where temperatures and wind-chills can hover for long times at the worst I experience here, and often enough, the weather report includes a detail along the lines of “exposed skin can freeze in X minutes”. But, for the sake of argument, I’ll try to imagine that you have some clever alternatives that provide equivalent protection without significant downsides (such as trying to carry several bags of groceries while one hand is occupied with a parasol, or getting a deep tan that doesn’t increase the risk of skin cancer).
I’ve signed up for cryo; I think that demonstrates my bona fides in my willingness to do socially strange things to improve my quality of life, given a reasonable confidence-versus-pros-and-cons analysis. If you can explain how not wearing a hat will improve my life in such a way that I can compare your claims against the evidence, then I expect I will reduce my hat-wearing frequency appropriately. If you don’t, I probably won’t.
I don’t see any reason to make an actual bet, unless there are stakes on both sides of the proposition instead of just one.
(Now that a local heat wave has broken and it’s feasible to take a walk for pleasure, I expect to buy a new hat by the end of the weekend. I’m currently leaning towards a simple, white baseball cap to insert the Crasche panels into. Which, as I’m typing this, makes me realize that I might be about to become a literal white-hat hacker...)
I didn’t say that the reasons were bad. I said the reasons were false. That is, they’re not your real reasons for desiring a new hat.
Because you’re not buying a hat to protect against both heat exhaustion -and- extreme cold. Apart from the contradiction there, you already -have- hats for these purposes, or these purposes would have come up in your original request. You’re looking for a hat for which -neither of these conditions apply-, or else they would have entered into your specification. And if neither of these conditions apply and your desire for a hat remains, then your desire for a hat is independent of those conditions.
They might be fine reasons for -other- people to wear hats. But it doesn’t matter, because they’re not your reasons.
Somewhat old post but...
That’s not necessarily true. These conditions may have been necessary but not sufficient conditions.
They can be necessary but not sufficient conditions for buying a hat. The issue is that even once those conditions are met, those two reasons aren’t merely reasons for buying a hat, but important specifications for the hat you are going to buy. If your goal is to prevent heat stroke, a hat that keeps you warm in the winter is counterproductive.
(I have owned quite a few hats, and used to wear one most of the time in public—in my college years a bowler, later a fedora, by which I mean a fedora and not a trilby. I donated most of them after realizing the effect they were having on my mood. At this point I own two hats; one is a black oilcloth hat for rain and costumes, and the other one is a fabric hat for sun.)