Do 'Stupid' People Deserve the Darwin Effect?

Welcome to Hello Stranger’s first audio essay! Here, with guest Ebba Safverblad-Nelson, we talk about the viral Yoho ice bridge collapse video, Dunning-Kruger Effect, high water at Jay Cooke State Park, and the way we talk about risk management.

Ebba works in ski patrol in Northern Sweden, has been a member of volunteer SAR in Grand Marais near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, worked as a canoe guide, participated in a 40-day tundra canoe expedition, and participated in a 70-day sea kayaking expedition in British Columbia this past summer.

Here are some relevant links:

• Viral video of the ice bridge collapse in Yoho National Park, CA. Specifically, we discuss the comments on this video and what they say about general attitudes towards beginners in the outdoors.

• Video posted by Destination Duluth of high water at Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth, Minnesota.

• Four women tackle the notoriously difficult Outside Passage, a story from which the risk management lessons I think about every day. We reference this story in the audio essay when we discuss Same Hat Effect and risk management scenarios in which group members group members are of relatively the same skill level, one of the more difficult risk management scenarios.

Connor paddling near the Rock Harbor Light on Isle Royale on Lake Superior, a trip we talk briefly about in the audio essay when discussing Same Hat Effect in outdoor accidents

Thanks for listening! This the format is new for Hello Stranger, so A) I apologize for the audio quality, and B) let me know if this is a format you’re interested in seeing more often moving forward!

-Maddy