"DO NOT use this pillow as a flotation aid". "Warning: these firelighters are flammable". We like to deride health and safety regulations. As the sociologist Frank Furedi says, "in a world where safety has become an end in itself, society constantly promotes symbols and rituals to transmit the need for caution". These warnings, many of us think, fly in the face of our adventurous natures. So we mock the culture of the "nanny state" because we believe it holds us back from being the enterprising, rebellious souls we would otherwise be.
I want to tell a different story. I believe that in many areas of our lives we humans are, by nature, cowards. Left to follow our instincts we tend to be much more cautious than we need be – indeed, more cautious than is good for us. The reason lies with our evolutionary history.
It is not long, ...
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