In our lives, it is important to exercise self-command. However,
             we should not be so concerned with the future that we stifle the present.
             The question becomes what balance should we strike between self-command
             and risks? What kinds of risks are acceptable or unacceptable? In this
             essay, we will use two examples of risks to show the distinction between
             the two and arrive at a conclusion as to the balance one should have
             between risk and self command. The first example we will use is of a
             person who spends his life savings on a lottery ticket and does not win
             the lottery. The second is of a person who spends his life savings on a
             hunch regarding a cure for AIDS, a hunch that is false. Before we make
             this distinction, however, it is necessary to define the terms acceptable
             There are several ways in which one could define which risks are
             acceptable. One could say, for example, that the only acceptable risk is
             one for which the odds of success are greater than the odds of failure.
             Another definition of acceptable risk might be a risk that does not harm
             one's future. We might also say that the only acceptable risk is one
             where the aggregate happiness is increased, thus increasing the moral good
             of the risk, an idea which is based on John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism.
             Finally, we might define a morally good risk in a Kantian way by saying
             that the only acceptable risk is one which is rationally thought out
             Now that we have several definitions of acceptable risks, we may
             ask how these definitions, which seem piecemeal and unrelated, can all
             combine to form one definition of acceptable risk. The best way to do
             this is to examine the two cases that lie before us and relate the
             definitions to them. In the process of doing so, we will determine which
             risk is acceptable and which is not.
             ...