Lee Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226108599
- eISBN:
- 9780226108605
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226108605.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter examines globally relevant disasters and explores the perils of probabilism. It discusses the role of concentration and interdependence in the way people create conditions for disasters ...
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This chapter examines globally relevant disasters and explores the perils of probabilism. It discusses the role of concentration and interdependence in the way people create conditions for disasters and suggests that the way modern society is organized creates the potential for more and more serious, worst cases. This chapter comments on the arguments of the anti-cassandras which rest on the idea of probabilism. It suggests that while we do need probabilistic thinking, we should not concentrate so much on probabilities that we forget the possibilities.Less
This chapter examines globally relevant disasters and explores the perils of probabilism. It discusses the role of concentration and interdependence in the way people create conditions for disasters and suggests that the way modern society is organized creates the potential for more and more serious, worst cases. This chapter comments on the arguments of the anti-cassandras which rest on the idea of probabilism. It suggests that while we do need probabilistic thinking, we should not concentrate so much on probabilities that we forget the possibilities.
