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Originally Posted by CecilOne
Even without the "fearful culture" change, science accumulates knowledge and understanding as time passes and more attentionis always given to problems as the number of occurrences accumulate. Plus the hugely increased ability and amount of communication compared to when some of us were children.
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I didn't mean to imply I thought our current approach of extreme caution with lightning was anything less than correct. I was just commenting on differences between "then" and "now."
People have always had a problem making the proper decisions in low probablility / high penalty situations. That's why the first reaction of many people when awakened by a hotel fire alarm is to wait and see if it is a false alarm, rather than evacuate immediately. Chances are, they are right. But, if they are wrong, they may be dead wrong. Lots of other examples... seat belts, motorcycle helmets, etc.
I look at lightning the same way. Low probability of a strike that will injure anyone on or around the field, but if it does happen, the consequences can be very tragic. Not worth rolling the dice, IMO.
What I make fun of, however, is low probabiliy, low penalty situations that people in our modern culture get all worried about. Disinfecting the kitchen trash can, for example. Sure, little junior could grab an old piece of something and put it in his mouth, but unless you are running a meth lab, the consequences are going to be minor. And, the long term consequences of killing every microbe in sight (so to speak) is, peversely, the opposite - it reduces our collective resistance to such bugs, and increases the penalty for junior's grandchild.