Things have an essential nature which cannot be changed, even if doing so seems like it would benefit them.
The Scorpion And The Frog. The scorpion stung the frog because that’s what scorpions do. A scorpion that doesn’t sting frogs is no scorpion at all.
It appears to go against Rational Self Interest at first. He could have acted differently and everything would have been fine.
I think this story only makes sense in the context of a model where one’s nature is their existence. A smoker that quits smoking is no longer a smoker, they’ve lost that identity. You can’t have a smoker that doesn’t smoke.
Things lobby for their own existence, and the smoker doesn’t want to stop existing.