I'm confused, the article seems to be actually asking the question. "It varies" is brought up multiple times, but that doesen't exactly help outlining how we would be able to define minimally good life.
It also asks whether a reasonable, caring and free person would trade places with the worst off, which I'd find very unlikely. What you can realistically do about it is unknown.
But it does. The typical "it depends" applies perfectly to this question.
>The thought is that having some distance from each person’s experience will help us see whether that person really needs all the things they think they need.
What works for you, doesn't work for me, and the other way round. Apart from the basic NEEDS (some call it "four walls" - shelter, utilities, transportation, basic groceries) everything else is a WANT. And it is great to have wants. A friend wanted to buy a desk globe for herself. She offered to buy me one too. I responded with a big NO. Not that I would not appreciate the gesture, I know that I would not appreciate a big thing on my table, that I can't use for nothing.
On the other hand, a nice puzzle hanging on my wall is cool, and it takes no space, and I don't have to move it around to make one more puzzle :)
>would trade places with the worst off
During COVID I saw with my own eyes that you can go from 100-to-1 in 6 months if you haven't made sure you got emergency funds on the side, if you don't have a solid safe work, you don't have amassed consumer debt, etc. As a mental exercise it is good to think the scenario "what if I lose my job, and I can't get another one for X amount of months"? Dave Ramsey suggests emergency funds to be able to fully cover 3-6 months. Those 3-6 can be stretched to 6-12 if you decide to make major cuts in lifestyle (food, subscriptions, smaller house/flat, sell a car and start cycling, etc.)
It's just that "it depends" is not very satisfactory, it's the default answer to all questions.
All questions are fractal in nature, and unsolvable without a problem-domain. By defining the domain a thing can be answered, such as "how much force do i need to throw this ball over there?" Otherwise no definite answer can be provided, because the next galaxy over tips the scales just a bit, as does the infinitesimally small difference in the ball's structure, and so forth.
>During COVID I saw with my own eyes that you can go from 100-to-1 in 6 months if you haven't made sure you got emergency funds on the side
This is why I think a social aid/basic income system with free healthcare is a must. You can't choose to be healthy and not to have accidents. I think we must all provide a basic net for the things outside our control. Of course I'm biased, being a finn in covid times is a tremendous blessing
It also asks whether a reasonable, caring and free person would trade places with the worst off, which I'd find very unlikely. What you can realistically do about it is unknown.