I think the reasoning behind this is worth making explicit. even if the expected value of the Atkins diet is negative to a randomly selected member of the population, it may still be reliably positive for some very specific small subset. if you have a strong reason to believe that you’re a member of that subset, then information about the average is less relevant to you than it might otherwise be. for example, a reduction in calorie intake, while beneficial for the average member of the population, is not beneficial to people who are severely underweight.
I think the reasoning behind this is worth making explicit. even if the expected value of the Atkins diet is negative to a randomly selected member of the population, it may still be reliably positive for some very specific small subset. if you have a strong reason to believe that you’re a member of that subset, then information about the average is less relevant to you than it might otherwise be. for example, a reduction in calorie intake, while beneficial for the average member of the population, is not beneficial to people who are severely underweight.
Right, thank you for making it explicit.