Rawls’s original position asks which principles should govern the basic institutions of a fair society. The veil of ignorance prevents parties from exploiting knowledge of their own social position. His project treats society as cooperation among free and equal persons and asks how its benefits and burdens can be justified.
Rawls’s focus is the fairness of the institutions that structure social cooperation over a life. People do not choose many starting advantages, yet those advantages influence what they can obtain. The original position models a choice of principles insulated from knowledge that would enable self-serving bargaining. This is a way to justify public arrangements among free and equal people, rather than a general instruction to erase individuality or to use one risk calculation for every personal decision.