tuber3
Joined 3 years ago
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Comment · 2 years ago
Comment · 2 years ago
Right, sorry for the poor choice of words. I agree with the groundings, I'm just surprised by the enormous response in the popular press and HN.
Comment · 2 years ago
Can someone explain why the tiny risk of death associated with Boeing's safety issues matters at all compared with the far greater risks that we take for granted (driving, etc.)?
I don't get it. It seems like we all make riskier tradeoffs whenever we buy a used car instead of a newer, safer one, or when we buy a slightly less safe new car instead of the safest new car. By not spending more on a safer vehicle, we're saying that we're willing to trade a certain amount of savings for a certain amount of risk.
How much more are we willing to spend to make aviation safer, when it's already so much safer than driving?
One argument I've seen on HN is that most car accident deaths are preventable by a responsible driver, while passengers have no control.
Ok, even if 99% of car accident deaths were preventable, that leaves 1% that are unpreventable. 1% of the ~35,000 car accident deaths in the US each year = 350.
Compare that to ~zero commercial aviation deaths/year in the US over the last decade or so. Source: https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/home-and-community/safety-topics....
If we include Boeings 737 MAX overseas deaths, that adds ~350 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incident...
Which doesn't seem to change the picture.
Comment · 3 years ago
If you haven't already, try Mack's silicone ear plugs. They are fundamentally different from foam earplugs in that they don't spring back when you press on them, which means they exert almost no force on your ears.
And to answer your second question, I would fly on the airplane with the worsening safety record if its other characteristics made up for it (price, timing, etc).
Why would an airline want the bad press, reputation effects, etc? That's a circular question to mine. My question was: why do people care so much about this minuscule increase in a minuscule risk? I agree that the game theory of such caring about caring (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_beauty_contest) makes sense, but I still wonder why HN readers care about it as individuals, not as Boeing execs.