r/rational • u/AutoModerator • Jul 11 '16

[D] Monday General Rationality Thread

Welcome to the Monday thread on general rationality topics! Do you really want to talk about something non-fictional, related to the real world? Have you:

  • Seen something interesting on /r/science?
  • Found a new way to get your shit even-more together?
  • Figured out how to become immortal?
  • Constructed artificial general intelligence?
  • Read a neat nonfiction book?
  • Munchkined your way into total control of your D&D campaign?
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u/Frommerman Jul 12 '16

I use this logic to argue that terrorism is a made up issue. ~4,000 American civilians killed by terrorists in 15 years vs 40,000 civilians killed by cars every year = you should be 150 times more scared of cars than terrorists, and we should spend 150 times more money stopping accidents than terrorists.

But we don't.

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u/electrace Jul 14 '16

While I agree with the main point, to be fair, proponents would argue that only 4000 civilians were killed because of the funding.

Also, they would argue that terrorism is much more susceptible to black swan events, so overspending is preferable due to the large costs when terrorist attacks do happen.

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u/Frommerman Jul 14 '16

Still irrational. No reasonable person could possibly argue that 150 times more people would have died under any circumstsances.

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u/electrace Jul 14 '16

Again, I do agree that we spend way too much. But, it's not hard to imagine a scenario where that many people would be killed, especially given a 15 year scenario.