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It's not just that people are bad at statistics (we are though). It's also that we place value on individual agency. Getting into a self-driving car (or onto a
by intrepidhero 4y ago
It's not just that people are bad at statistics (we are though). It's also that we place value on individual agency. Getting into a self-driving car (or onto a train) means giving up some of my agency and because of that I have higher expectations of safety from the self-driving car (or train driver) than I would if I had retained that agency. I don't think that's weird or unreasonable.
We do need to get better at statistics and realizing that when we take on risk, we rarely are the only person impacted if something goes sideways. When I take the wheel of a car I become a risk myself and to others and I need to place as much value on their agency as my own.
- djmips 4y agoI completely agree that we put a lot of value into personal agency but I do think it's a bit unreasonable. Agency when driving is only perceived. You could have a heart attack and smash into pedestrians. Your car could fail mechanically. You could be rear ended by a large truck. You could be killed by a drunk or inattentive driver. Your agency can not entirely prevent that. Also you may be in the top percentile in driving but like everything, everyone thinks they are a great driver so you can't take how you feel and generalize it to the population. I'm not arguing that self driving cars are solved but maybe they aren't quite as bad as people feel. We need proper statistics.
- intrepidhero 4y agoThat's a great point. Often the perceived agency is an illusion.