How many risks have you taken today? What do you consider a risk? Would you stretch out on a bed of nails? Throw yourself off the top of a cliff and freefall before pulling the ripcord?
Are you courageous enough to fish for king crabs in stormy ocean seas? How much are you willing to bet in a poker game? What risks are real, and which ones are perceived?
Seattle’s Pacific Science Center has a package of risk-related activities: the “Risk!” exhibit, an interactive look at how we perceive risks and why we take them, and two risk-related IMAX films.
Ironically, the exhibit also shows how far humans will go to take more risks.
Just look at the headgear exhibit: astronaut’s helmet, leather football helmet, bike helmet, samurai kabuto and the fire spitter dance mask (spiritual protection against evil sorcerers).
Chain mail that once covered a knight’s body has now been adapted to protect against shark attacks on researchers.
Compare a flak jacket to a Kevlar bullet-proof vest; use a computer program to rate risks as they appear to you; learn about one of the most polluted places on Earth, a site that’s a real risk to its residents.
Or take a risk. Stretch out on a bed of nails or take a simulated walk across a 7-inch-wide steel beam “17 stories high,” with the wind blowing, horns hooting and birds flying.
Are those actions risky, or do they just appear to be risky?
“There is an unfortunate disconnect between the ways that scientists and the general public perceive and assess risks,” said Paul Slovic, psychology professor at the University of Oregon and principal adviser for “Risk!”
“The public has a broad perception of risk that incorporates uncertainty, dread, catastrophic potential, controllability, risk to future generations and so forth, into the risk equation,” he said.
“Experts tend to see riskiness as synonymous with probability. So it’s not surprising that the experts’ recitation of ‘risk statistics’ do little to change people’s attitudes and perceptions.”
Be sure to watch the film in the Risk Cinema booth, where various risk-takers talk about reality, perception and the philosophy of risk.
They draw a number of conclusions, including that crazy people don’t last long in risky pursuits, that risk leads to an appreciation of the preciousness of our lives, that life should be experienced (“Anybody can sit on the floor”), and that “love is the scariest and most risky thing we do.”
Risk on an IMAX screen
Chance and choice are delivered in two films, one that has been playing for a while (“Extreme”) and the other directly linked to the “Risk!” exhibit (“Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk”).
“Extreme” is a Warren Miller-type film without the tongue-in-cheek humor but with some great shots and sounds of extreme surfing, frozen waterfall climbing, backcountry skiing on near-vertical slopes and wave sailing.
If you can take in only one film, see “Adrenaline Rush.” There are plenty of risk-taking moments (BASE jumping, sky diving) but even more skillfully packaged science.
The science is delivered through the stories of skydivers who are developing the wing suit – a baggy diving suit that creates a wing-like effect, allowing skydivers to stay afloat much longer – and risk-takers who built the hot-air balloon designed by Leonardo da Vinci.
The rider of da Vinci’s dream had no guarantee that it would work when cut loose from a modern hot-air balloon.
What risk did you take today?
Frank Baptie photo
Imagine crossing a 7-inch-wide beam 17 stories above ground.
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
More than 4,700 real nails challenge your body in a component of the new Risk! exhibit at Pacific Science Center.
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