The Strange Conundrum of Risk and Safety
When I was in college, I voluntarily ran into a tornado.
Now — for the sake of perspective — let the record show that it was probably an F0 or maybe an aspiring F1 that was barely more than a "dust devil," but fact remains that I did, in fact, run into a tornado.
What's slightly considerably strange about that is that I am generally a very sedate and risk-avoidant sort of person. I totally avoid things like roller coasters, bungee jumping, skydiving and even the high boards at the swimming pool.
"Risky" behavior scares me to near death, and I'm about as far from an adrenaline junkie as you can get.
What's My Point, Here?
I don't play the lottery, I don't gamble, I can't stand casinos and I don't wager on card games. If someone offers me a 100-to-1 reward for doing something chancy, I'm gonna run in the opposite direction. People with guns make me nervous, even if there's only a 1-in-100,000 chance they'll trip and accidentally send a round into someone's head.
I won't even get involved in dodgy real estate investments or high risk business ventures.
And yet?
I'm somewhat involved in the "Wild Wild West" world of cryptocurrencies, which most people I know perceive to be an insanely risky proposition. These are the same people, I might add, who willingly blow $500 in Vegas in a guaranteed "no-win" casino and think it's "fun" to jump out of perfectly good airplanes!
True Conundrum... or a Matter of Perspective?
Which all makes me ponder what this thing called "risk" really is.
Without a doubt, the perceived degree of risk associated with pretty much anything we consider undertaking changes as we gather information and experience about that thing. When we become intimately familiar with the risk involved, part of the attendant fear subsides. Perhaps the tangible danger doesn't change, but the way we look at — and respond to — the danger does.
Perspectives change.
Consider something largely innocuous like "dating." To someone who has been single for several years, the prospect of meeting and dating relative strangers is likely far less intimidating than it would be to someone who's recently widowed after a happy 20-year marriage.
The "thing" itself — dating — is essentially the same but the perspectives are completely different.
Knowledge is Power: eBay... and the Stock Market
My late auntie was the only stock market investor in a family of almost exclusively risk-avoidant investors who tended to put their money into very safe things like savings accounts and and short term government bonds.
For reference, this was back in the 1970's to 1990's.
Occasionally my aunt and I would talk about investing and the stock market, and she often asserted that most people who poo-poo'ed the stock market away as a "risky gamble" simply didn't know anything about it.
I think about her words, and then I think about many of my business peers in the 90's and 00's who thought I was "crazy" to do most of my business through eBay... a venue perceived to be riddled with "scammers and rip-off artists."
In truth, I started trading on eBay 23 years ago, and in 20,000+ transactions, I've been scammed exactly twice. But I am also intimately familiar with the workings of that marketplace. From my perspective, the risk is minimal.
Of course, none of this explains why a couple of dumb 22-year olds would voluntarily run into a tornado... it wasn't as if we knew anything about tornadoes.
As The Bitcoin Turns...
Part of what brought this whole thought platform to the surface was — what we pretty much all know by now — Bitcoin's recent nosedive. It was a poignant reminder that we are involved in — to most people's way of thinking — an extremely risky gig, here.
But from whose perspective?
If we have knowledge, and are fully cognizant of the inherent risks, and accept the distinct possibility that we may end up with... absolutely nothing... how does that affect the risk?
It's just something to think about...
Thanks for reading!
How about YOU? How do you view risk? Do you tend to embrace risk, or be risk averse? Do you believe that having information changes our perception of what is risky, and what is not? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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