I spent some of this past weekend waiting for a bear. To be precise, about three hours of listening to rustling in the nearby thicket. Knife out, rock in hand, and a good climbing tree in sight, we waited for a ferocious, non-existent bear. We called to the noise, “Hey bear, are you human?” No reply. I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep. But while waiting for the bear to appear, my mind began to reason as though life depended on it.
The choice was between a few hours of sleep and the security of knowing I controlled my own fate by staying awake and prepared. Sleep, I knew, could decrease my chances of a misstep on the following day’s trek. And so I broke into an internal debate about the consequences and probabilities of the scenarios I had conjured up in my head to explain the noise: a mass murderer, a black bear, a tarp someone left behind or a yeti.
Stepping back for a moment and taking into account all of the possibilities, I realized the probability of an attack was unlikely whether it be bear or human; no human would climb that high, make that much noise, and not respond to our calls and no bear would linger that long. Still, I waited until sunrise and sacrificed a lot of sleep. Fear won over reason.
When I finally laid down, I realized I had abided by the precautionary principle – I acted as though the worse case scenario were immenent and simply denied the fact that it was improbable. Later, I was angry in the morning when we discovered the nearby rustling was only nocturnally-mute humans with a shitty sense of humor. Fear trumped rationality and as I came to my senses later the next day, it began to bother me that I made the wrong decision. On that night, I regret to say, I was not guided by reason.
Is it reasonable to abide by the precautionary principle? If so, when? Does the principle have a place in the court room, particularly in the context of climate change?
Well put Sir French Fry War Cry. First, I'd argue that although precaution is good, its probably unhealthy to always be cautious, say when your playing a guitar solo. Jam on. When it comes to a bear, unless you brought your guitar to please his distraut ears, your decision was correct, especially since it allowed a fellow hiker to fall asleep knowing two brave souls were looking out for his delicious body.
ReplyDeleteIn legal terms, you may be hinting at the difference between negligence and recklessness. Though I don't have my license to practice law quite yet, I will recklessly tell you that erring on the side of caution is generally best, again, unless your shredding.