Four years ago, Michael Crichton wrote a novel entitled “State of Fear.” Sadly, he has recently passed away, but this book addresses the irrational fear of big events that permeates Western Civilization. The theme was the hysteria over Global Warming, but the argument can be directed at any of the catastrophe scenarios that grip our imagination, like the “imminent” threat of the Yellowstone volcano. If you haven’t read this book, be sure to do so. Here is what one of his main characters has to say:

“Has it ever occurred to you how astonishing the culture of Western society really is? Industrialized nations provide their citizens with unprecedented safety, health and comfort. Average life spans increased fifty percent in the last century. Yet modern people live in abject fear. They are afraid of strangers, of disease, of crime, of the environment. They are afraid of the homes they live in, the food the eat, the technology that surrounds them….They are timid, nervous, fretful, and depressed. And even more amazingly, they are convinced the environment of the entire planet is being destroyed around them. Remarkable! Like the belief in witchcraft, it’s an extraordinary delusion….”

The probability of any of the catastrophe scenarios occurring in the lifetime of anyone living on the planet today is extremely low. All these scenarios will come to pass some day, but for now I do not plan to lose any sleep over them.