Dylan Smith writes:

While doing 170mph on the back of a friend's Super Blackbird
(motorcyle), I was not afraid, I merely thought "well, if we do crash at
least it won't hurt for very long".

The difference between smart people and stupid people is that smart people
accurately assess the risks, and stupid people don't. Smart people may still
take significant risks, but they know what they are getting into. Stupid
people take risks without knowing what they are doing. Thus, the smart person
always has the satisfaction of knowing that the result justifies the risk (at
least in his own mind), whereas the stupid person just stumbles along, and
often stumbles into Darwin's rejected gene pool.

Astronauts know what they are getting into. The risks are substantial, but
they are smart enough to know what the risks are, and they've accepted them.
Good pilots are the same way. So are good motorcycle riders. All of these
people ask themselves in advance: Is this experience worth a risk of xx% that
I'll be killed? The answer doesn't matter so much as asking the question and
heeding the reply. The stupid people just say to themselves: Wow, this looks
like fun!

General aviation is vastly more dangerous than commercial airlines, but
clearly most of the risk comes from careless, stupid pilots and poorly
maintained aircraft (and one could argue that the latter is also a consequence
of the former).

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