Skeptic Check: Feeling Risky

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.6 • 986 Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s not just facts that inform our decisions. They’re also guided by how those facts feel. From deciding whether to buckle our seat belts to addressing climate change, how we regard risk is subjective. In this extended conversation with an expert on the psychology of risk, find out about our exaggerated fears, as well as risks we don’t take seriously enough. Meanwhile, while experts warn society about the dangers of self-aware AI – are those warnings being heeded? Guest: David Ropeik – Professor emeritus Harvard University, and expert on the psychology of risk Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake We've been nominated for a Webby! Our episode "Vaccine Inequity" is in the top 5 of the Technology category. Vote for Big Picture Science! Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Please take our listener survey! Help us get to know you and enter to win a $500 Amazon gift card! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:53.0	Listen to Tech Crunch Daily Crunch now, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:58.0	That's Tech Crunch Daily Crunch, wherever you get your podcasts. Life is a risky business.
1:15.0	Whether we're climbing a ladder or failing to use sunscreen at the beach, we take risks all day long.
1:22.0	But even though just about anything we do entails risk,
1:25.0	we only occasionally think of our behavior in such terms.
1:29.0	And as the great freak out over the Chinese spy balloon showed? Emotions often trump facts when we assess danger.
1:36.8	It will be in the end our feelings about the facts, not the facts alone, that lead to how
1:41.6	scared we are.
1:43.0	Do you hesitate to get on a plane if there's been a crash in the past week?
1:47.0	You take into account that, you know, from a statistical point of view, driving to the airport
1:52.0	is far riskier than getting on a plane once you're there.
	...

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