Why do people do dangerous things?

Discussion in 'General Philosophy' started by StrangerInAStrangeLand, Oct 29, 2008.

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  1. Search & Destroy

    Search & Destroy Take one bite at a time Moderator

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    DANGER. STUPID. BLAH

    danger is being closer to death than you gotta. What's stupid about grabbing a buck-toothed spiny octopus with no gloves? 1.) you've got an interesting story (you become less boring) 2. The wisdom! The wisdom that you have gleamed and smelled the impermanence and fragility of our kind, been reminded of the fact, and continue on existing. They can be quite spiritual moments.
     
    Search & Destroy, Nov 12, 2008
    #21

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  3. Simon Anders

    Simon Anders Valued Senior Member

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    I would guess there are a number of true answers, but one would be that it makes people feel alive. They are triggering themselves and getting off on the result.
     
    Simon Anders, Nov 12, 2008
    #22

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  5. laladopi

    laladopi time for change. Registered Senior Member

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    to answer your question, being dangerous if wanting to feel the adrenaline of death, subconscious wanting to experience death, thats why being are crazy for doing it but more than others.
     
    laladopi, Nov 13, 2008
    #23

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  7. visceral_instinct

    visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    Adrenaline of death?

    I doubt you can be high while dead, I think you meant near death experiences or something.
     
    visceral_instinct, Nov 13, 2008
    #24
  8. laladopi

    laladopi time for change. Registered Senior Member

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    obviously, the adrenaline before the possible death.
    but your brain uses adrenaline because if your going to do something dangerous, your going towards it, not away from it. you know about if before hand, if you ask why people do dangerous things.
     
    laladopi, Nov 14, 2008
    #25
  9. alaska1976

    alaska1976 Registered Member

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    Simon Anders said... "...but one would be that it makes people feel alive."

    I agree with the above. But if you evaluate what is dangerous from the opinions of say 100 people who have never did anything 'dangerous' (as in subjecting their body/mind to possible irrepairable damage) and you evaluated what is dangerous from 100 people who have did things to cause injury to mind/body but are alive to speak of it you will find radically different definitions of the word dangerous and it's applications.

    Of the question, I think it has to do more with stretching the imagination for what is not able to be partaken of regardless of what it is with the exception of the result being instant death. Esxample; I helped survey logging roads on very steep sided mountains in Idaho one time. There were four of us and I was the youngest. One day as the mountain literally pulled us down it's sloap after work in the hot sun I saw a thick ever green branch and with an idea I grabbed it and swung on it so I was soon several feet off the forrest floor before letting go. I screamed with pure excitement realizing I could die if I hit a broken branch but hitting the side at an almost running speed I grabbed another branch and swung my way to the bottom. The others thought I was right out crazy. Now I could have seriously injured myself but it didn't happen. I did it many times after that.
    Point being their is a mental boundary line that prohibits most from crossing it regarding danger. The rest that cross it, you'll find their vids on youtube.
     
    alaska1976, Nov 21, 2008
    #26
  10. one_raven

    one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    Because it is fun and exciting.
     
    one_raven, Nov 23, 2008
    #27
  11. Fraggle Rocker

    Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    You don't seem to have much understanding or respect for the concept of FUN. You must be a Christian.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    In my earlier post I explained risk-reward analysis, and fun is one type of reward that is quite legitimiate. After all, it has great economic value in our society so it has to be.

    The people I can't relate to are the ones who drive dangerously on the freeway in the morning, and they're only going to work! Taking that kind of risk just so you can walk into your office five minutes earlier, now to me that is STUPID.

    You are clearly afraid of the sensation of free fall, like many people, and would never do it. So you can't understand why for some other people that might be such a pleasant experience that they're willing to take a calculated risk in order to have that pleasure.

    You are also abysmally poor at risk analysis. You must be an American. You don't offer any statistics on the relative danger of free-fall sports, you just present some scary anecdotes about people who have been hurt, without telling us whether they were drunk, inept, or attempting to do it in bad weather or other conditions. Or just what percentage of them actually suffer that fate. Which makes you sound like a journalist. You're attitude is, "See you can get hurt or killed doing this! Therefore you should never do it!" You sound like my mother (may she rot in hell) explaining why I shouldn't travel to Czechosolvakia under its communist regime in 1973.

    The reference standard for risk in America (and in most of the Western countries) is automobile travel. It's one of the top five causes of death. That can be normalized down to the risk of death per hour spent on the activity, to provide a fair comparison with other activities on which people don't spend nearly as much time. What's the death rate per hour of hang gliding or BASE jumping, compared to automobile travel?

    Even then, it's not a totally fair comparison. People derive pleasure from sports, whereas for most people driving a car is a necessary duty that they'd happily give up if their managers would let them telecommute. If we had the choice, most of us would sign up for dying while doing something we enjoy, instead of something we hate but somebody makes us do it anyway.

    But the bottom line is that people are not "stupid" for taking risks in order to get the pleasure from an activity they enjoy. Any more than they are "stupid" for taking risks in order to get paid, so they can spend the money on activities they enjoy. It all kind of works out the same, doesn't it? What's the difference if I get killed riding a motorcycle and having a good time, versus getting killed driving a car to work so I can get paid and spend the money to go to a symphony and have a good time?
     
    Fraggle Rocker, Nov 23, 2008
    #28
  12. swarm

    swarm Registered Senior Member

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    Fun facts...

    More people die from asprin than die from heroin.
     
    swarm, Nov 23, 2008
    #29
  13. StrangerInAStrangeLand

    StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    More people die from hospital acquired infections than from illegal drugs.
    1111
     
    StrangerInAStrangeLand, Nov 23, 2008
    #30
  14. swarm

    swarm Registered Senior Member

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    4,207
    The last year I checked, more people died from lightning strikes in England (4) than died from E, acid and pot combined (2 "heat related" deaths from packed clubs).

    Having been a paratrooper, gone mountain climbing, cliff climbing and handled high explosives, perhaps the closest I came to dying was going fishing.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2008
    swarm, Nov 23, 2008
    #31
  15. Fraggle Rocker

    Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Medical errors are arguably the main reason for the poor cost-benefit performance of the American health care system. In America you're more likely to be misdiagnosed, given an incorrect prescription, pick up an infection in a health care facility, be lost or ignored without medical attention for a significant period of time in a health care facility, undergo surgery or another procedure which is not the one you were supposed to undergo, or be the victim of a host of other errors generally due to overwork or faulty administration.
     
    Fraggle Rocker, Nov 24, 2008
    #32
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