Decisions, Risk and Danger

"Decisions, Risk And Danger" – Entscheidungen, Risiko und Gefahr.
Today my old friend Jochen and I talked about the decision making process and the distinction of risk and danger.

"An etymological analysis of risk shows that the term has two possible roots. On the one hand, there is the Greek "riza", related to Arab "risc", which stands for divinely given facts, for fate, but also for means of subsistence. On the other hand, there is the Latin or Italian root "risco", which stands for sailing around cliffs. This second root indicates that risks develop through human actions and that they are dangers that could be avoided. This definition has been widely accepted in the sociological literature about risk, and Luhmann (Niklas Luhmann, 1927-1998) therefore calls risk the form in which the future in decisions is made visible and rationalized. Risks are results of actions that are neither necessary nor impossible; they are contingent and depend on human actions.
The character of risk becomes clearer when one contrasts it with the related terms of uncertainty, danger and chance. Uncertainty stands for the fact that we do not know the future, it is uncertain. The contrast between danger and risk is that the former is generally felt to be out of the control of the decision maker whereas the latter can be affected. A corresponding distinction is that risk refers to actions, whereas dangers are objective entities outside of human control. Chance stands for potentially positive developments and is often seen as part of risk. The decider who takes a risk is aware of potential losses but also of potential gains of the decision." - The Limits of Risk Management – A social construction approach, Stahl, Lichtenstein, Mangan.

It can be quite hard to make a decision. At least 2 problems come to mind. There is the problem of information gathering: When has one enough information? Did one invest enough energy to gather sufficient information? Are the sources trustworthy? Can one trust oneself? Then there is the problem of living with one’s decision. The fear of making the wrong decision can be truly paralyzing. But one has to move on. Sometimes, once a decision was finally made, reality gets bent in order to live with one’s decision. Cognitive dissonance.

That’s why it’s good to double-check.
That’s why it’s good to have friends.
That’s why it’s good to take time.
That’s why it’s good to collaborate.

That’s why some may consider this administration a dissonant and not a harmonic chord, within the diatonic scale and any other scale. Remember, there are other scales.