Constructive Paranoia

For the past couple weeks I have been reading an interesting book titled: The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? (2012) written by geographer Jared Diamond. The title of this post comes from a part of the book, where Diamond coined the phrase “constructive paranoia” after visits to a traditional society in New Guinea. What drew me to ponder his interesting phrase is the recent death of a nine year old farm boy in Grant County, WI in a grain bin on the family’s farm, and the death a few weeks ago of a young child in a hot car in the Atlanta, Georgia area. In the latter case the father is being charged with murder, while in the former the county sheriff said it was a tragic farm accident.

Jared Diamond, Geographer and Author

First, what does Diamond mean by constructive paranoia? In the book he relates three examples of constructive paranoia, including the one that truly made him think about risk. What made him ponder risk was a New Guinea research trip where he set a tent near a dead, but sturdy tree. To native New Guineans, who are part of a traditional society, they would not sleep near such a tree, in case it were to fall over on to them. They viewed it as an unacceptable risk. During subsequent visits Diamond realized that almost every night he had spent in a New Guinea forest he would hear a tree fall and from this realized the paranoia of the locals was actually constructive. Diamond views this hypervigilant attitude toward low risks as constructive paranoia. Traditional societies lack modern health care, EMS, and police or fire services. A broken bone may mean disfigurement or becoming handicapped. Even our family camping trips there have been times when summer storms dropped parts of, or whole live trees on a camp site. Luckily, as far as we know, no one was injured. Similarly, last year the community in which I work saw a tree fall being driven down a road, where the driver sustained some serious injuries. If a falling tree can hit a moving car, the local New Guinean concern seems more real, and appropriate.

Hunter Gatherer in a Traditional Society

The US has become less a farming nation, and so farm accident deaths have dropped. But, the death of the nine year old yesterday shows they still occur. I was in eighth grade when a friend of mine died in a farm accident. As we have become more suburban and urban the risks we take have changed. The death o fell into a grain bin but luckily was f the toddler in a hot car, only brings up the point that such deaths are in fact not uncommon, with most cases being termed an accident. People do not regularly crawl into grain bins, and the boy was helping his family fix an auger, but yet, they were not sufficiently vigilant. Several years ago a farmer of which I am acquainted fell into a grain bin, but luckily he was rescued by a full time Fitchburg Fire crew. About three times a year, to my wife’s chagrin, I climb up on the roof to clean gutters. She is most perturbed when I do it at times when no one is home. Perhaps this expression of her concern for my well-being is not simple paranoia, but rather an expression of Diamond’s term. Or course, if she is upset at my getting on the roof in dry conditions, you would not want to be around when I go on the roof in the winter, when it is covered with snow and ice, to remove snow or examine an ice damn. I now can term her concerns constructive paranoia. That is not a bad term.

University of IL drawing.  Obviously, contrary to the drawing, as shown by the case in Grant County
a person can still get sucked in the grain even when it is not being removed.

In a 2013 NY Times article Diamond provided a another take on this phrase, claiming that it is more likely for a modern day person to fall and get hurt in their bathtub, than to get robbed. Falls, particularly to the elderly, can be life altering and dramatically affect the persons standard of living. He notes that the everyday mundane activities of daily living pose more risk. Perhaps one reason is that they become a habit. Almost every day the typical American takes a shower, or a bath.  It often is a habit for a person to take their child to daycare, but of course if their mind wanders by thinking about the upcoming day, one can forget the most important duty, dropping the child off. As we have seen, too many times, it can have tragic consequences. It is not a habit to regularly enter a grain elevator and clean out an auger, so it was not a situation of constructive paranoia at play as much as one needing to be prepared and vigilant. I was cutting a broken branch that had fallen into a tree about one month ago and as I felled a piece of the tree it freed the branch of another tree which came up and hit me in the head. But, I was prepared having worn a helmet (with ear protection) to avoid a head injury.

 

A modern theory on risk management, perhaps using constructive paranoia is too simple for modern man

 Modern times have changed the daily risks we face. Diamond, in his NY Times article goes on to say that Americans exaggerate risks of perceived events particularly those beyond our control such as terrorists, active shooter, or a nuclear accident. On the hand, we underestimate those risks that are under our control. In our American society we have whole hosts of careers or fields of study dealing with risks and their potential occurrence. Beyond trial lawyers, think of insurance companies, actuaries, not to mention the whole field of risk management. Risk management seems like a paradox as most people do not go looking out for risk. Stuff happens, and when it does there is a consequence. Yet, there is a field of study devoted to managing it. Of course, what they really do is educate people on ways to avoid risk. Modern day living is but yesterday in the time of human experience on earth. In a traditional society risk avoidance it is a natural outgrowth of their living conditions--Diamond’s “constructive paranoia.” In modern day America we have a field of study devoted to lowering risk. Perhaps there is much we can learn from traditional societies, or in my case pay more attention to what my spouse has to say.