Negativ varning

Från Failbook (klickbar för förstoring):

Där alltså skylten om varning endast ses av den som inte har ögonen på telefonen, och följaktligen närmast per definition tar bort fokus från trafiken från i övrigt observanta förare. Skylten bidrar alltså i sig själv till problemet den är tänkt att lösa, ungefär på samma sätt som den fantastiska varningsskylten med vassa hörn:

På samma sätt formligen avskyr jag den ständiga texten om att man inte får kopiera dvd-filmen - kopierade filmer plockar alltid bort det meddelandet, och det är alltså endast den som köpt filmen som straffas med att behöva ödsla tid på budskapet.

I övrigt på temat så har Johanna Nylander skrivit väl om SMS-förbud, och David Henderson om varningsbruset:

It's a kind of a Gresham's law of warnings: warnings about low-probability threats drown out, rather than drive out, warnings about high-probability threats.

One last example. In 1982, when I was working in the Reagan administration, my friend Harry Watson came to town and we rented two kayaks. I had never been in a kayak in my life. We tried them out on the placid C&O canal beside the Potomac River and then went to put them in the Potomac. "WARNING: DANGEROUS CANOE PUT-IN." said the sign. "Yeah, right," we thought. There goes government crying wolf again. 

Wrong. Within 50 yards of having put in our kayaks, we were using all our physical energy to navigate down a very rough river. Within less than 2 minutes, I was worn out and all I had left was adrenaline. After I got to my first bit of calm, I relaxed slightly and immediately tipped over. I was heading for the next big set of rapids. Fortunately, a seasoned kayaker appeared out of nowhere, told me to hold on to the strap on his kayak, and towed me to shore. I was lucky. Those people at Monastery Beach were not.

Good information is just too important for us to allow government to drive it out with bad information. 

Några tidigare inlägg på negativ-temat:
- Negativ singularitet
- Ännu mer negativ skola
- Negativ skola, igen
- Negativ skola
- Negativa transporter