On Risk

In a just world the more recognized and lauded professor to emerge from the academic halls of the University of Toronto would be their professor of Philosophy, Mark Kingwell. He's been writing rigorous and thoughtful books for years, here tackling the notions of risk, especially pertinent during the pandemic dumpster fire of 2020.

Kingwell argues that we are just incredibly bad at assessing our own interests and misreading the baseline facts, distracted by an affinity for narrative construction instead of rigorously assessing available data. Add to that a tragic combination of behaviours fuelled by risk aversion (self-isolation) and risk tolerance (sending kids back to school) and we see the growth of meta-level risks that can create net negative results. These tend to congregate around different populations since, while theoretically neutral, risk is still unequally distributed.

So you see Kingwell is clearly a thoughtful writer thinking through available data and presenting it in all its complicated and nuanced glory. It's not easy reading and is inflected with philosophical tones that can sometimes be a challenge to parse as we have an affinity for narrative construction as he puts it.

And so the world betters knows of the University of Toronto's professor of psychology, Jordan Petersen instead. Throngs understand his brand of reactionary politics and polemical stance against the looming threat of social justice warriors, political correctness and, somehow, his perceived threat of incarceration for refusing to use transgender pronouns. He espouses easy bromides like “Clean your room” to rabid fans that are groomed to want easy soundbites and fist shaking diatribes.

None of that here, just the clear-eyed, if densely worded examination of risk and where we might seek answers. It's worth the effort and you'll feel less dirty after reading.