[Rain Man]

There are probably tons of things that dampen down over time to have zero long-term impact. If I could go back and not buy a pair of shoes that ended up being uncomfortable, I might have used the money to get rich on some flash crypto, but most likely I would have just purchased a different pair of shoes that would have made me more comfortable when I wore them. There are probably a thousand different instances where a different decision would increase short-term pleasure or decrease short-term pain without having a long-term impact. It would be nice to change one of those.

But the thing is, we don't know which actions dampen down to zero and which ones don't. Maybe not getting my thumb smashed by the Paraguayan Uber driver in February would have no impact other than me not having a black thumbnail right now. Or maybe staying in the hotel for a day with my thumb in an ice bucket kept me from getting run over by a drunk driver while I was coming home from the Asuncion Museum of Chairs.

Therefore, changing one thing without a long-term impact can by definition only have a fleeting positive impact or avoidance of a negative impact and is therefore trivial by defnition.