People want to be counterfactually important

# People want to be counterfactually important Many people talk about “impact” but I think what people may actually want is to *matter*. Counterfactual importance is the knowledge that had you not been there, the world would have turned out differently. This is why kids are consistently cited as the most rewarding things people do. They are a clear example of counterfactual importance: had you not existed, this person would not have existed. Compare that to something like making tweaks to Google’s search algorithm. Yes, it’s affecting billions of people, but for the most part someone else in your job would have made the same change. This is impact without counterfactual importance. ### Related - [[People want to be loved and be lovely]] - [[People want to be able to live where they want and have a family]]  [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/People+want+to+be+counterfactually+important) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/People+want+to+be+counterfactually+important)