Humans tend to overestimate small probabilities, so the fear generated by an act of terrorism is greatly disproportionate to the actual risk.Īlso, I’d want to create the feeling that an army of terrorists exists, which I’d accomplish by pulling off multiple attacks at once, and then following them up with more shortly thereafter. With that in mind, I’d want to do something that everybody thinks might be directed at them, even if the individual probability of harm is very low.

One thing that scares people is the thought that they could be a victim of an attack. I’d start by thinking about what really inspires fear. Hearing about these rules got me thinking about what I would do to maximize terror if I were a terrorist with limited resources. I wonder whether the lighter manufacturers were lobbying for or against this rule change - on the one hand, having 22,000 lighters confiscated per day would seem good for business but on the other hand, maybe fewer people will buy lighters if they can’t travel with them. While it seems crazy to keep people from bringing toothpaste, deodorant, or water on a plane, it doesn’t seem so strange to ban lighters, which could be used to start fires. Surprisingly, one item that will now be permitted on board is a lighter. The TSA recently announced that most airplane carry-on restrictions will stay in place for at least another year, until new X-ray technology has been fully installed.

Levitt steven d