Worst-Case ScenariosHarvard University Press, 2009 M05 15 - 352 pages Nuclear bombs in suitcases, anthrax bacilli in ventilators, tsunamis and meteors, avian flu, scorchingly hot temperatures: nightmares that were once the plot of Hollywood movies are now frighteningly real possibilities. How can we steer a path between willful inaction and reckless overreaction? |
From inside the book
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... courses of action , including staying the current course ( " busi- ness as usual " ) . Perhaps a margin of safety should be created to protect against the worst cases ; but as we shall see , it is important to know what we lose by ...
... course of ac- tion — that is , an agreement about what to do without any kind of agreement on the theory that underlies our conclusion.4 Often , of course , life produces much harder questions . It is now standard practice for ...
... course we need to know what , exactly , the mone- tary figures represent . Do they reflect more in the way of prema- ture death and serious illness ? Do they refer to higher prices for consumer products ? To lower wages ? Qualitative as ...
... course of action that had a 1 percent chance of causing significant harm . The likely result would be paralysis , because so many courses of action would be forbidden . ( Even doing nothing might be prohib- ited ; human beings who do ...
... course it is preposterous to say that the inhabitants of one nation are " worth less " than the inhabitants of another . But as we shall see , it is not preposterous to say that a rich nation rightly spends more to reduce a mortality ...