Why do people get more worked up about mountain lion attacks than automobile accidents?
C: Human beings are not objective computers. They have feelings and attitudes and experiences. Research has shown that certain kinds of risks are more frightening because you are not in control. In an airplane, you are not in control. Being in an airplane is very safe. You undergo more risk by far driving to and from the airport. How should we rethink our ideas of risk? C: We should, as a society, understand all of these risks and think about them as carefully as we can and then decide to apportion our funds in a more balanced way than we currently do. I don’t know where the asteroid-impact hazard would come out in that equation. What worries me is that it is all very haphazard. There seems to be no long-term planning in our society. It is very hard to get people to plan decades or centuries ahead. Does that mean we will be poorly equipped to deal with asteroid impacts? C: Yes. On the other hand, there are members of Congress of both parties who are interested in this topic and keep it
