Originally Posted by
canid
the example was not to illustrate the severity of the risk but your reasoning process.
choosing to trust that 10lb of rice would tide him over until he could plant, tend and harvest crops, or forage and hunt enough food to eat for the duration of his stay was a risk. the severity of this risk in this case is self evident. it was just dangerous enough to have killed him.
crossing a river in good weather which might not be passable later was a risk. this is evident because he was unable to leave when he tried.
trusting that he would not become seriously ill at any point during his relative isolation was a risk.
trusting that he would not be mauled by a bear during this same period was a risk. trusting that he would not be killed or injured by a moos; the same.
these are all risks he took, and which i see no reason to believe he didn't understand. am i pretending they where insane risks? no; but pretending they where not risks is ridiculous. we take risks constantly, and it does not take a genius to recognize many of them. we simply take them anyway, avoiding those which we feel inclined to for whatever process of reasoning we happen to be using.
pretending they aren't risks just because they don't meet whatever arbitrary threshold; well, i suppose it just doesn't make sense to me.
