Alternative paths are all the outcomes that could have happened, but did not. With the game of Russian roulette, four alternative paths would have led to the same result (winning the 10 million) and the fifth alternative to your death. A huge difference. In the case of the lawyer, the possible paths lie much more close together. In a village, he would have earned perhaps just 200 per hour. In the heart of New York working for one of the major investment banks, maybe it would have been 600 per hour. But unlike you, he risked no alternative path that would have cost him his fortune or his life.