Minor quibble: I've never thought (most) people actually "fear" terrorism, rather they have (justified) anger and perhaps an excess feeling of "something should be done" since terrorists are actual human beings who can be brought to account.
Perhaps a better comparison would be fearing airplanes over cars, but there I think much of the fear is in the novelty of the flying experience.
The comparison with nuclear weapons is really interesting, particularly as the response to fear of nuclear annihilation on the part of most people was overblown (digging bomb shelters under houses etc). On the other hand, the actions of the relevant governments (US/USSR) were mostly rational in a game-theoretic sense (acknowledging the prisoner's dilemma at hand).
Biotech may be different, as Sam mentioned, since only nation-states have the means to build nukes. On the other hand, computers/the internet still work despite Y2K and rtm's worm :)
Minor quibble: I've never thought (most) people actually "fear" terrorism, rather they have (justified) anger and perhaps an excess feeling of "something should be done" since terrorists are actual human beings who can be brought to account.
Perhaps a better comparison would be fearing airplanes over cars, but there I think much of the fear is in the novelty of the flying experience.
The comparison with nuclear weapons is really interesting, particularly as the response to fear of nuclear annihilation on the part of most people was overblown (digging bomb shelters under houses etc). On the other hand, the actions of the relevant governments (US/USSR) were mostly rational in a game-theoretic sense (acknowledging the prisoner's dilemma at hand).
Biotech may be different, as Sam mentioned, since only nation-states have the means to build nukes. On the other hand, computers/the internet still work despite Y2K and rtm's worm :)