Friday, August 26, 2011

We think we believe what we know, but we only truly believe what we feel

Laurence Gonzales in Deep Survival discusses adaptation. Page 63 on risk perceptions and trade-off decision-making in the context of an avalanche rescue.
There was another fundamental difficulty that the snowmobilers faced. Our sense of a mountain, the earth, is a sense of something solid, and our experience confirms that. Nothing in our learning tells us that a mountain is going to come apart before our eyes. It makes no sense. It hasn't happened, therefore it cannot happen. The mountain certainly didn't look fragile. The snowmobilers literally couldn't believe it. We think we believe what we know, but we only truly believe what we feel.

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