[Strategerist]

One problem is there seems to be an obsession with this exceedingly unlikely but really dramatic things; Yellowstone Caldera, La Palma collapsing, etc....

And things that are not only likely, but PROBABLE in the next few decades...a magnitude 7-7.5 earthquake on the Hayward Fault in Oakland and Berkeley, or in Salt Lake City...or in any of a number of other places...that would kill 5,000+, cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and make 9/11 look like a joke...are basically ignored.

[t-1000]

"And things that are not only likely, but PROBABLE in the next few decades...a magnitude 7-7.5 earthquake on the Hayward Fault in Oakland and Berkeley, or in Salt Lake City...or in any of a number of other places...that would kill 5,000+, cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and make 9/11 look like a joke...are basically ignored."


I think humans tend to think of things in a way they can comprehend.
For instance lets take TIME.

To humans 100 years is a long time.

In geological standards 100 year is nothing, it is like a fraction of a second.

So we humans who have been around for several thousands of years, think that all geological events will occur, what would be simultaneously in geological terms (100 years apart)

When in fact it just does not happen like that.
It could be another 3000 years before the next Tidal wave or what ever.

[AmericanChef]

-One problem is there seems to be an obsession with this exceedingly unlikely but really dramatic things...-

You said it. Mass panic attack.