Comments on: Mortality Reality http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/07/20/mortality-reality/ Mike Harding's Blog Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:42:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: mike http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/07/20/mortality-reality/#comment-34771 mike Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:40:50 +0000 http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/07/20/mortality-reality/#comment-34771 Ok Mark, whatever floats your boat... Ok Mark, whatever floats your boat…

]]> By: delicious mark hubery http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/07/20/mortality-reality/#comment-34770 delicious mark hubery Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:37:26 +0000 http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/07/20/mortality-reality/#comment-34770 <strong>Blog Hopper...</strong> Hi There. I'm blog hopping.... Blog Hopper…

Hi There. I’m blog hopping….

]]> By: mike http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/07/20/mortality-reality/#comment-22389 mike Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:28:52 +0000 http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/07/20/mortality-reality/#comment-22389 I don't agree it's misleading. True, everyone dies of something, but "accidents" aren't included on the chart for a reason. These are, by and large, preventable causes. If car accidents were added, you'd be 14.3 times more likely to die in an auto accident for instance. As for things in our control, that's exactly the point. If you control what you can, don't worry about the rest because there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Meanwhile, prevention. I think we're way too engaged in all of these areas in reaction. Right now, to "prevent terrorist attacks" we're spending $1.7B per day. Is that a good investment when looking at the data? We're probably closer on this than this comment indicates and I do understand your point. But, things are seriously screwed up and the equivalent of a hard slap is required to get people to snap out of it... I don’t agree it’s misleading. True, everyone dies of something, but “accidents” aren’t included on the chart for a reason. These are, by and large, preventable causes. If car accidents were added, you’d be 14.3 times more likely to die in an auto accident for instance.

As for things in our control, that’s exactly the point. If you control what you can, don’t worry about the rest because there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Meanwhile, prevention. I think we’re way too engaged in all of these areas in reaction. Right now, to “prevent terrorist attacks” we’re spending $1.7B per day. Is that a good investment when looking at the data?

We’re probably closer on this than this comment indicates and I do understand your point. But, things are seriously screwed up and the equivalent of a hard slap is required to get people to snap out of it…

]]> By: Kevin http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/07/20/mortality-reality/#comment-22388 Kevin Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:08:18 +0000 http://montaraventures.com/blog/2007/07/20/mortality-reality/#comment-22388 Well, this is a bit misleading because we all have to die of something. People are scared of things outside of their control. Eating badly, smoking and even suicide all all within our control. Drunk drivers, murderers, home invasion robberies, second hand smoke and terrorists are outside of our control. While I'm sure the terrorists won't top that list in terms of the number of deaths, it might top the list of things "most out of our control." Thus, they are feared the most. I think what this chart is really good for is determining the ratio of spending wrt the actual threat. We should be spending tons of money preventing heart disease, cancer and smoking related deaths and only a tiny fraction on combating terrorism. I'm sure if there were a similar chart showing how much has been spent preventing each of those causes it would, sadly, be reversed. Well, this is a bit misleading because we all have to die of something.

People are scared of things outside of their control. Eating badly, smoking and even suicide all all within our control. Drunk drivers, murderers, home invasion robberies, second hand smoke and terrorists are outside of our control. While I’m sure the terrorists won’t top that list in terms of the number of deaths, it might top the list of things “most out of our control.” Thus, they are feared the most.

I think what this chart is really good for is determining the ratio of spending wrt the actual threat. We should be spending tons of money preventing heart disease, cancer and smoking related deaths and only a tiny fraction on combating terrorism. I’m sure if there were a similar chart showing how much has been spent preventing each of those causes it would, sadly, be reversed.

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