alt Hacker NewsI see that example as the opposite, people just like to sleep in in general, and later sunrise/sunset gives them more light in the times that matter. They don't cancel out, doing both gives the best result.
You have to know ahead of time whether people value their sleep over sunlight, or sunlight over sleep, to know which version makes the most sense.
I've started to despise revealed preference for precisely this scenario. When it's applied accurately it rarely says anything normal reasoning couldn't already make abundantly apparent but it's soooo easy to inaccurately apply and then the conversation goes off the rails to focus on what the revealed preference does/doesn't say.