A fascinating post by Stephen Dubner — with help from Gwenyth Cravens — says that our perceptions of the danger of nuclear power have been warped, and not in a good way. Years ago I saw a scatterplot that showed perception of risk versus actual risk for many possible dangers: auto accident, being hit by lightning, and so on. Nuclear energy was a whopping outlier. Its perceived risk was much greater than you’d expect from its actual risk. From that outlier, a book with a great title: Power to Save the World.
Hi Seth,
Do you remember where you saw that scatterplot?
I think it was during a talk by Ken Craik, a professor in my department. I can’t remember why he was showing it.
Thanks!