Decision Under Uncertainty Lab
No formula, no correct answer;just the reasoning worth checking before you decide.
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Sign inThis Lab puts you in three real money dilemmas where no formula gives a clean answer: an offer to join a friend's startup, a sudden medical expense that competes with your investment plans, and a zero-interest EMI offer with a deadline. You choose what you would do, and the Lab then shows what a careful decision-maker would have checked. It never says which option was right.
How to use this Lab
- Read the situation.
- Choose one of the three options.
- Read what a careful decision-maker would have checked, and the question that follows.
- Choose Try another scenario to move on. If you are signed in and have played before, the Lab shows what you chose last time.
What to notice
- Is it reversible?
- The reversibility filter asks how easily you could undo the decision. Quitting a stable job with rent and EMIs due is hard to undo. Starting an EMI is fairly reversible, but still locks in a monthly payment.
- The pre-mortem question
- Before deciding, ask what would have to be true for this to be a mistake, and name real answers. If you cannot name any, you have found what to check before you go ahead.
- Process over outcome
- A good decision is judged by the reasoning at the time, not only by how it turned out. The Lab asks what you checked, not whether your choice later paid off.
How a dilemma unfolds (hypothetical)
A store offers a zero percent EMI on a large appliance you do not urgently need, for a limited time. You choose Wait and think about it. The Lab points out that an EMI is fairly reversible, but still commits you to a monthly payment for something you did not need yesterday, and that zero percent describes the financing, not whether the purchase itself is a good idea. It then asks whether you would still want the appliance if there were no deadline and no discount.
What this Lab does not show
- The dilemmas are examples. Real situations have more detail, and the right call depends on your own money, family and goals.
- There is no correct choice in the Lab. It does not recommend any decision, and Maetis does not give financial, legal or career advice.
- If you are signed in, your earlier choices are saved to your account so the Lab can ask about them next time. Deleting your account removes them. Signed out, nothing is saved.
Common questions
- What is the reversibility filter?
- A question you ask before deciding: how easily could I undo this? The harder it is to undo, the more care it deserves.
- What is a pre-mortem?
- Imagining the decision has already gone wrong and asking what would have to be true for that to happen, before you commit.
- Does the Lab tell me the right answer?
- No. Several of the dilemmas have no clean answer, and reasonable people would choose differently.
- What does judging process over outcome mean?
- Judging a decision by the reasoning you used at the time, not only by whether it worked out, since good decisions can have bad outcomes and the reverse.