Complex Numbers

Thriller

We’re taking a trip today to the southern most point in the entire United States. South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii is a popular daredevil destination where brave souls leap from the cliff into the churning ocean below.

Are you (or were you ever) a thrill-seeker? Do you visit carnivals or theme parks? What do you do that gets your heart pounding? Have you ever had a brush with death?

"Brave" is not a word I'd use in this situation. Nor is "souls," but that's not really the point.

Risky behavior is a part of life. It's probably an evolutionary thing, but you know by now how I feel about spurious "we evolved to be that way" arguments. Regardless of why we're like that, I've noticed that risky behavior, on its own, is not what's rewarded in humans. It's taking the right risks, and being successful at it.

Being successful at the wrong risks invites public scorn. People who drink "too much" based on some arbitrary standard, for example. We think nothing at all of the public health costs involved with people climbing rocks, jumping off cliffs or out of airplanes, hiking in the wilderness, participating in extreme sports, etc., but watch someone drink too much and all of a sudden it's all "I don't wanna pay for their life decisions."

Recently, there was this chick who got herself lost in the vast, unexplored wilderness of... Maui. Surviving for over a week on scraps and droplets, her disappearance made national news, and the entire country breathed a sigh of relief when she was found, leg broken, but alive. Weighed less, but hey, who doesn't need to lose some weight, right? Meanwhile, a dude disappeared on the other lobe of the same island. I only found out about this because I had a friend on Maui; it was nowhere in the news. Guy died. I guess men are just expendable and not worth the search effort.

My same friend is a hang gliding enthusiast and a scuba diver. You'd think both would be big on Maui, but it turns out that only the scuba thing is; most of the high spots on the island are part of the national park system, and there's a countrywide ban on hang gliding in national parks. This is silly any way you look at it; scuba is way riskier than hang gliding. It's too bad, because I'd totally take up the sport just to glide off Haleakala.

I tried scuba diving, but my ears just won't accommodate the pressure changes.

Point is, we as a species absolutely suck at assessing and managing risk. Hence, you get people who "hate" flying because the plane might crash, but don't even think twice about speeding to the airport if they're late; and you have orders of magnitude more chance of dying in a car crash (even without speeding) than you do of dying in an airplane mishap.

Are you (or were you ever) a thrill-seeker? Not really. Not out of fear, but just a matter of "what's the point?"

Do you visit carnivals or theme parks? I did quite a lot of that when I was younger. Loved roller coasters. But that was more because I was fascinated by the dynamics involved. I always did see the world from an engineering and physics standpoint.

What do you do that gets your heart pounding? Climb a flight of stairs. Okay, I'm kidding. I'm in pretty good shape, these days.

Have you ever had a brush with death? I've been close to dying at least three times, maybe four. Mostly from illness, though. There might be other times when I nearly died and didn't even know it. Life is inherently uncertain, and I'm not really afraid of death; I'm way more concerned about being maimed or being otherwise unable to function the way I'm used to. There was one time I was swimming in the ocean off the Carolina coast, and I found out the next day someone else had been munched by a shark somewhere close by; I'm not sure that really counts, though. Way more people are killed by cows than by sharks, and I've been around herds of future hamburgers.

No, I don't get thrills from taking risks, or even from beating odds. That may sound strange coming from a self-admitted gambler, but I don't gamble for the thrill. What excites me is learning new things. And, of course, feeling superior to the idiots who throw themselves off of cliffs.