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[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 points 23 hours ago

On the one hand, I get this, what's unexpected is more interesting and newsworthy, but at the same time I do see how it creates problems. Airplane travel is much safer than cars, but people feel unsafe in planes. Part of it is because you aren't personally in control, sure, but a lot of it is definitely the availability hueristic*. Especially following things like the September 11th attacks and Malaysian Airlines planes going missing.

But a major issue with it is that it leads to us viewing things like car accidents (and heart disease and cancer) as inevitable and a mere fact of life we can't do anything about. Meanwhile whenever there is an airplane crash it's very thoroughly investigated and will likely lead to changes in regulations.

*: I may be getting the name wrong.

this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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