Are the nuclear meltdown in Japan and our financial crisis evidence that we're overconfident in our ability to take risks?

We are too dependent on science and technology to solve our problems, and we don't think anything will go wrong, which it always does. This is the problem with the environment--too many people are counting on technology to save us from disaster. Overconfidence is our main weakness.

No, of course not.

We are just confident enough to allow the Oligarchs' Puppets Free Reign and not bother to occasionally squash them and make them check their over-confidence.

No. We are just delusional.

I would have to say yes. If there was proper oversight and regulations, maybe we would not be experiencing these type of events.

Irrefutable Proof ICTY Is Corrupt Court/Irrefutable Proof the Hague Court Cannot Legitimately Prosecute Karadzic Case By Jill Starr

http://picasaweb.google.com/lpcyusa https://picasaweb.google.com/lpcyusa/IrrefutableProofICTYIsCorruptCourtIrrefutabl#
(The Documentary Secret United Nations ICC Meeting Papers Scanned Images)

https://sites.google.com/site/jillstarrsite/irrefutable-proof-icty-is-corrupt-co...

This legal technicality indicates the Hague must dismiss charges against Dr Karadzic and others awaiting trials in the Hague jail; like it or not.

Unfortunately for the Signatures Of the Rome Statute United Nations member states instituting the ICC & ICTY housed at the Hague, insofar as the, Radovan Karadzic, as with the other Hague cases awaiting trial there, I personally witnessed these United Nations member states having a substantial conversations, and, openly speaking about trading judicial appointments and verdicts for financial funding when I attended the 2001 ICC Preparatory Meetings at the UN in Manhattan making the iCTY and ICC morally incapable trying Radovan Karazdic and others.

I witnessed with my own eyes and ears when attending the 2001 Preparatory Meetings to establish an newly emergent International Criminal Court, the exact caliber of criminal corruption running so very deeply at the Hague, that it was a perfectly viable topic of legitimate conversation in those meetings I attended to debate trading verdicts AND judicial appointments, for monetary funding.

humanity is a bumbling lot..moderately well intentioned..control is their downfall..the effects of it..the illusions it produces..or the effects of projected control when in effect there is none..all used to sell the illusion of progress..while shelving in the darkest library all evidence to the contrary..the blinding light of mass media shall not illuminate these passages, but be shined in yer eyeballs like a stunning device.

this doesn't even make sense.

It goes to show we have no respect for those that are our future. we are destroying their world. Before they get a chance to see it or even live in it. overconfident? not sure. But we are being very irresponsible.

I don't think we even see the risks, we are to blinded by the potential rewards. We only notice them after the disaster happens.

It starts by not even knowing what the risks are.

With respect to the financial crisis, ratings agencies had all the wrong incentives to accurately rate financial products and companies. Investors relied on these agencies to interpret the data and provide analysis with an impartial rating, but they ended up being bought-and-paid-for marketing divisions for the financial system. Couple that with regulators who were woefully understaffed, underfunded, and out-gunned and unrecognized systemically increased risk was all but assured.

Not that overconfidence didn't play a role. It did. However not having good information is what kept it going for way longer than it should have.

Though I know less about the Nuclear Industry, I suspect the same is true. The Private Corporations that run most nuclear power plants don't want the public to know how much modernizing their plants need. New and safer designs, safety equipment and technology, and perhaps even new locations are what will make that industry as safe as possible....which is a far cry from what we have now.

The problem is; that doesn't jive with profit.....so we are kept in the dark.

No.

The financial crisis proves that those in the financial industry are sub-human scum that need to be watched like children, less they fuck everyone they can out of everything they can.

The nuclear meltdown proves that unless you live in a completely stable (and lets say sterile) environment, can properly manage everything that goes on in the plant, and dispose of waste properly, you shouldn't use nuclear energy.

I don't think so. I think these events are evidence that we get so caught up in progress as modern people that we become willing to overlook the risks, or formulate a half-baked backup plan and hope we'll never need it.

you post this:

Are we as a society becoming too overconfident in our
willingness to take major risks?

this is NOT a society issue
this is a business BUYING government oversight to work in dangerous
conditions for profit

get the difference between society and business right
then
ask me a question...

its just proof that we are really fucking stupid....

It's evidence of our arrogance.

No.

A theme might be that those who take the risks usually don't bear the consequences of those risks. If you are not liable when the risky actions you take go wrong, there is no incentive for you not to be as risky and overconfident as you can be.

In the financial crisis banks took excessive risks, the retail banks made horrible loans, turned around and sold them to the commercial and made their money off the transaction fees.

There was zero risk to them and they were incentive-zed to make as many loans as possible to get transaction fees. The commercial banks bought up these loans tranched them, and the derivatives found their way into portfolios, including pensions. The commercial banks did not take the opportunity to look until the terms of the mortgages, otherwise they would have figured out how bad they were.

When they blew up,many of the banks got bailed out, and ultimately the taxpayer was liable for the banks excessive risk taking. The precedent established, and without having to bear the risk of their actions, the banks have every incentive to do it again.

As far as the nuclear meltdown, I don't know about in Japan, but in U.S. you can't get loans to build a nuclear facility unless the government will guarantee those loans

That's the market's way of saying nuclear power is so risky it shouldn't exist.

But the government steps in and says to potential financiers of the nuclear power, your are not going to bear the risk of a nuclear disaster and a default on loan payments.So get right to it.

Conclusion: You can do whatever you want.You won't be responsible for your own actions. Society will pay the cost of your mess.

Yes!!!

But that is really just the tip of the iceberg, and calling our behavior "risky", really can't begin to describe the stupidity and selfishness of the assholes who are destroying the planet and any hope for the establishment of a sane, compassionate, sustainable (progressive) society, anywhere on the planet (for fear the notion might catch on).

As far as I can see it, all (or most) life on this planet is doomed (and soon). But those are the medium-to-long term risks.