How Do We Fix It? #36 The Risks of Safety: Greg Ip: How Do We Fix It?
The illusion of safety can lead to reckless behavior.
These fascinating insights are part of "Foolproof - Why SafetyCan Be Dangerous and How Danger Makes Us Safe", the recentlypublished book by Greg Ip, chief economics commentator at The WallStreet Journal.
"Life is about risk," Greg tells us in this episode of "How DoWe Fix It?" When we believe the world is safe, it affects ourbehavior. "Many positive things happen from taking risks and weshould not let the pendulum swing all the way to the other side -trying to eliminate all risks from our lives."
Our collective aim to make life safer comes into conflict withthe equally strong desire to make things bigger and morecomplicated. It is in our nature to safeguard our world - and yetsometimes, more often than we realize, protections end up being thethings that threaten our safety and well-being.
Accidents will always happen, says Greg. Among the solutions hecalls for are safe spaces: allowing banks to fail without takingdown the entire financial system and creating flood plains that allrivers and coastal waters to rise without creating havoc in nearbycommunities.
Greg argues for a balance between independence, risk and safety.Regulate too much and we reduce the opportunities for innovationand create a sense of potential complacency. "Black swan" eventsare inevitable. Our systems of governance and rule-making shouldrecognize that we cannot plan for every eventuality.
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