Superfreakonomics

[MagnaChucka]

Has any one read any of Superfreakonomics yet? Its the follow up book to Freakonomics, which I loved. So anyway I picked up Superfreakonomics in Wal-mart the other day and have been really enjoying it. The reason I am posting here however, is not to advertise the book. There has been a lot of discussion about war in light of the presidents recent announcement regarding escalation in Afghanistan. Let me preface this by saying that I am against all war on principal, so I don't view this as an endorsement of war, simply interesting facts. I quote from the book.

"From 2002 to 2008, the United States was fighting bloody wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; among active military personnel, there were an average 1,643 fatalities per year. But over the same stretch of time in the early 1980's, with the United States fighting no major wars, there were more than 2,100 military deaths per year. How can this possibly be?
For one, the military used to be much larger: 2.1 million on active duty in 1988 versus 1.4 million in 2008. But even the rate of death in 2008 was lower than in certain peacetime years. Some of this improvement is likely due to better medical care. But a surprising fact is that the accidental death rate for soliders in the early 1980's was higher than the death rate by hostile fire for every year the United States has been fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. It seems that practicing to fight a war can be just about as dangerous as really fighting one.
And, to further put things in perspective, think about this: since 1982, some 42,000 active U.S. military personnel have been killed - roughly the same number of Americans who die in traffic accidents in a single year. "

[katsy]

1. Count the Iraqi and Afgani deaths and let's see how that compares

to auto accident deaths.

As the matter of fact... that kind of comparasin only serves to desensitize us to the real cost of war. It's a twisted and immoral perspective.

[Taitertots]

5. No, it shows the real cost of war without the sensationalism

I think it is sick to marginalize the loss from innocent people dieing in car accidents.

[katsy]

8. Counting the deaths is not sensationalism.

Unfortunately, the Iraqi deaths didn't merit keeping a record.

No one is marginalizing deaths caused by auto accidents.

You just can not compare apples to oranges. The Iraq war was a war of choice and a criminal act, IMO.

The devastation of a loved ones death is immeasurable be it from war or not. I objected to the "bean-counter" mentality that tries to minimize the senseless deaths in the Iraqi war by comparing the numbers to any accidental death statistics.

[alarimer]

2. They are completely and utterly wrong about a number of things in that book.

I never read either one, but I have read a number of scientific bloggers on the merits of their global warming ideas. Which is t o say, they are completely wrong about that. From the reviews I have read, it appears to be a book without substance. They talk a lot about stuff they know nothing about.

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/10/why_everything_in_superfreakon.php

[Taitertots]

4. This is worthy of a medal

Complain that people are talking about stuff they know nothing about while criticizing a book they have never read. Then you base your opinion on "science" BLOGS.

Your review wasn't even written by someone in the field, he is a computer scientist.

[Odin2005]

3. I liked the geo-engineering idea.

That will piss off the "humans are evil" gang, but screw them.

[asdjrocky]

6. Picked it up at Wal-mart did you?

[MagnaChucka]

7. Yep

I am a bit of a night-owl, and Wal-Mart is the only department store open 24 hours in my area. I end up getting a lot of stuff there. As far as them talking about stuff they dont know about, they dont claim to be scientists, literally they are just talking incentives and economic solutions. You really should check out the books if you havent, there is nothing as interesting as finding out about how sumo wrestlers are terrible cheaters, and how a pair of eyes painted on an honor system candy box drastically increases the giving.