Steven D. Levitt* promotes terrorist ideas on his NY Times Blog, and asks for readers' help in coming up with more terrorist schemes... as a public service:
"I’d start by thinking about what really inspires fear. One thing that scares people is the thought that they could be a victim of an attack. With that in mind, I’d want to do something that everybody thinks might be directed at them, even if the individual probability of harm is very low. Humans tend to overestimate small probabilities, so the fear generated by an act of terrorism is greatly disproportionate to the actual risk. Also, I’d want to create the feeling that an army of terrorists exists, which I’d accomplish by pulling off multiple attacks at once, and then following them up with more shortly thereafter... I’m sure many readers have far better ideas. I would love to hear them. "
Freak, indeed.
*Of Freakonomics fame.
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