I was reading about the death of a hiker on a walking forum recently and ended up posting a reply, it turned out to be a bit more of a sprawl than I expected. Readers of this blog should not be spared such ordeals, so here it is:
My work means that I have to try to understand the line between unreasonable risk and interesting challenge well. I also find myself drawn into the debate against my will occasionally if I get accused of recklessness.
There is not a lot of evidence that I am aware of that suggests that government involvement stops people from finding danger. There is however a strong theory that people will select the level of risk they are comfortable with, regardless of what others do. This is often illustrated by road safety arguments, the more ‘safe’ the roads are made the more dangerously the…
