"**A more insightful metric then is to use the time during which people are affected by a given risk as the common denominator, and do the comparisons in terms of fatalities per person per hour of exposure**—that is, the time when an individual is subject, involuntarily or voluntarily, to a specific risk. This approach was introduced in 1969 by [[Chauncey Starr]] in his evaluation of social benefits and technological risks and I still find it preferable to another general metric—that of micromorts. These units define a micro probability, a one-in-a-million chance of death per specific exposure, and express it per year, per day, per surgery, per flight, or per distance traveled—and these non-uniform denominators do not make for easy across-the-board comparisons." ([Location 2876](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08SGC3TD3&location=2876)) --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[risk-management]], [[micromorts]], **Source** -- [[202412030828 - B - How the World Really Works]]