13.2 Modern Risk Tolerance
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Fig. 13.5 Decrease of risk tolerance at a mine as reserves deplete over time
3
Fig. 13.6 The orange curve is a corporate developed tolerance threshold compared to a blue “emotionless” objective tolerance threshold
threshold compared to a “emotionless” objective tolerance threshold (blue line in
log-log graph). As can be seen zones 1 and 3 are below the objective line but above
corporate tolerance, while zone 2 is corporately tolerable, but above the objective
line. Zones 4, 5 are respectively entirely tolerable, entirely intolerable, thus they do
not necessitate detailed discussion.
In order to explain why the differences of perception (zones 1, 2, and 3) occur,
let’s look at an example based on parking violations fines:
• If there is a very high likelihood of being caught in illegal parking, even if the fine
is modest, most people will be cautious (Zone 1).
• If the fine is substantial, and there are very few police patrolling parking, most
people will also be cautious (Zone 3).
• In-between, most people will take a chance! (Zone 2; in this case not sure we are
talking about human evolution!).
And now let’s describe the three zones.