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I mean, I guess this is not too surprising. There is that well-referenced Schneier article about how we react most to risks that are unfamiliar and rare (over

I mean, I guess this is not too surprising. There is that well-referenced Schneier article about how we react most to risks that are unfamiliar and rare (overestimating and valuing them), while believing as low risk those things which are mundane and common but much more likely to kill us day to day. General hunger is familiar to everyone, even though dying of it now should be immoral to allow to happen. But being killed by a volcano is new and scary. Hence the data they observe.

ggg9990 8y ago
That’s why people move to the suburbs and exurbs to avoid urban violence but end up with higher non natural death rates due to the greater than offsetting increase in auto deaths.
crispinb 8y ago
You could say the same about bias on contentious issues: "tribalism is an evolutionary trait, so such-and-such a news outlet's tendentious coverage isn't surprising". Or about poor software design: "Concrete thinking is natural, so it's not surprising the engineers didn't think through possible surprising codepaths". Journalism aspires to be, at its best, a profession whose associated skills, standards, and ethics exist precisely to countermand the kinds of 'unsurprising' traits you mention. As with reducing bias, application of rational news values is never going to be perfect. But like other skills, it can be improved.
tomc1985 8y ago
Check out The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, that paradox of attention is explored in-depth
PJDK 8y ago
Does this really describe the world? Yes, people are more viscerally frightened by rare risks, but that is because there is no strategy to manage them. But we deal with every day risks pragmatically all the time (look both ways before you cross the road!). Enormous resources are put into solving/managing these risks (airbags, speed cameras, police, regulations and so on). Of course shark attacks are more frightening than drowning. Drowning is the thing I'm actively preventing, I have a good understanding of how it might happen and how I will avoid it. The shark is scary because of its unavoidable and arbitrary nature!

ggg9990 8y ago

That’s why people move to the suburbs and exurbs to avoid urban violence but end up with higher non natural death rates due to the greater than offsetting increase in auto deaths.

crispinb 8y ago

You could say the same about bias on contentious issues: "tribalism is an evolutionary trait, so such-and-such a news outlet's tendentious coverage isn't surprising". Or about poor software design: "Concrete thinking is natural, so it's not surprising the engineers didn't think through possible surprising codepaths". Journalism aspires to be, at its best, a profession whose associated skills, standards, and ethics exist precisely to countermand the kinds of 'unsurprising' traits you mention. As with reducing bias, application of rational news values is never going to be perfect. But like other skills, it can be improved.

tomc1985 8y ago

Check out The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, that paradox of attention is explored in-depth

PJDK 8y ago

Does this really describe the world? Yes, people are more viscerally frightened by rare risks, but that is because there is no strategy to manage them. But we deal with every day risks pragmatically all the time (look both ways before you cross the road!). Enormous resources are put into solving/managing these risks (airbags, speed cameras, police, regulations and so on). Of course shark attacks are more frightening than drowning. Drowning is the thing I'm actively preventing, I have a good understanding of how it might happen and how I will avoid it. The shark is scary because of its unavoidable and arbitrary nature!