Quote: (Originally Posted by Genesis)
One must also consider the marginal utility of the contemplated activity. That utility value varies from person-to-person and event-to-event.
I agree this is a good discussion, but some of the words are a bit long!
The whole point in risk reduction is so that we can continue doing the activity tomorrow, and next week etc..etc.. So that the 'marginal utility' of said action can continue.
Unfortunately some seem to get hung up on the 'MUST DIVE NOW' train of thought, and take uncesessary risks (IMHO) to achieve what is in effect only one dive. Or badly assess the risk of kit failure/weather worsening/own ability etc. A lot of this ability to assess risk comes with experience (ie having got it wrong before and survived) - but that may come too late.
I mitigate as many risks as possible, so that I may continue diving in the future. If the activity is so good that we are prepared to take risk then surely that is the aim?
One of my (flying) instructors told me this when I started training:
"Everyone starts out with two bags, one full of luck the other empty of experience. We hope that our bag of experience is full enough before our bag of luck runs out!"
A very apt saying - directly applicable to any number of the activities that I have undertaken - including diving of all sorts!
The idea of risk mitigation is to give us time to fill the bag of experience!
Neil