My latest for TCS Daily, “Risk-Terrorism Analysis,” has posted. It’s a response to a recent piece by Reason science correspondent Ron Bailey and a general line of reasoning that contends we are overreacting to terrorism given the statistical odds of dying in an attack.
Unlike being struck by lightning or a meteor, terrorism and other murders are variable human actions, not random events. Taking reasonable proactive measures such as training and deploying police officers, locking one’s doors, and making prudent choices about the situations one places oneself in markedly lower the odds of bad things happening. Even though few planes are hijacked, it probably still makes sense to put secure doors on cockpits and ensure that passengers do not bring dynamite on board. Not only does doing these things make specific plane trips somewhat safer but doing so systematically makes hijacking less attractive as a terrorist endeavor.
Much more at the link.
