Comments on: Mountains Out Of Molehills http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mountains-out-of-molehills Ideas, issues, knowledge, data - visualized! Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:11:21 +0000 hourly 1 By: Gabhttp://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/comment-page-1/#comment-43775 Gab Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:11:22 +0000 http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/?p=143#comment-43775 Please update this one! With Eartquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes, Fukushima, Europe's Economic crisis and the yet to come US default-debacle fear we may discover that the 2012 apocalypse is the sum of all fears spread by media. :) Please update this one! With Eartquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes, Fukushima, Europe’s Economic crisis and the yet to come US default-debacle fear we may discover that the 2012 apocalypse is the sum of all fears spread by media. :)

]]> By: Dan McLaughlinhttp://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/comment-page-1/#comment-39653 Dan McLaughlin Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:05:34 +0000 http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/?p=143#comment-39653 Four ideas: 1. Your chart does a good job of showing cultural mountains but it assumes that all the issues are molehills. History may show that some of these "mountains" are at least substantial enough to be bigger than molehills. 2. The Y2K issue is an example of a small mountain being made into a molehill. My assumption - There were enough real software bugs out there that if no action was taken there would be some significant problems. What happened - the mountain of over blown hype was adequate to create enough reaction to overcome the real problems. Why? - My theory - a.The public will do nothing about a problem unless it perceives a crisis. b. A group of computer people had real concern and shared the info. The press blew it out of proportion because it was a great story. The computer sale executives and and the customer IT managers jumped on the bandwagon because the Customer IT Managers wanted increased budgets and new toys. The Computer Sales Executives supported the panic because it would drive new sales. Because the "mountain" of panic created an adequate response to the real problem, the real problem never manifested itself. Therefore it looks like there was no validity to the real problem. 3. Apply this "mountain out of a molehill phenomenon" to the "aids panic of the early 80"s. What impact did the panic have in bringing about action to deal with the problem? Did the action taken help mitigate the problem? Is the problem particularly in the 3rd world even bigger than we could imagine in the 80's? 4. The anti-al qadai panic was insufficient to cause us to take adequate action to avoid 9-11. Were they "poo-poo"ed because "they were making a mountain out of a molehill"? Four ideas:
1. Your chart does a good job of showing cultural mountains but it assumes that all the issues are molehills. History may show that some of these “mountains” are at least substantial enough to be bigger than molehills.
2. The Y2K issue is an example of a small mountain being made into a molehill. My assumption – There were enough real software bugs out there that if no action was taken there would be some significant problems. What happened – the mountain of over blown hype was adequate to create enough reaction to overcome the real problems. Why? – My theory – a.The public will do nothing about a problem unless it perceives a crisis. b. A group of computer people had real concern and shared the info. The press blew it out of proportion because it was a great story. The computer sale executives and and the customer IT managers jumped on the bandwagon because the Customer IT Managers wanted increased budgets and new toys. The Computer Sales Executives supported the panic because it would drive new sales.
Because the “mountain” of panic created an adequate response to the real problem, the real problem never manifested itself. Therefore it looks like there was no validity to the real problem.
3. Apply this “mountain out of a molehill phenomenon” to the “aids panic of the early 80″s. What impact did the panic have in bringing about action to deal with the problem? Did the action taken help mitigate the problem? Is the problem particularly in the 3rd world even bigger than we could imagine in the 80′s?
4. The anti-al qadai panic was insufficient to cause us to take adequate action to avoid 9-11. Were they “poo-poo”ed because “they were making a mountain out of a molehill”?

]]> By: Robinhttp://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/comment-page-1/#comment-37877 Robin Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:13:39 +0000 http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/?p=143#comment-37877 It strikes me how cyclical each 'event' or 'subject' is. Very good visualisation It strikes me how cyclical each ‘event’ or ‘subject’ is. Very good visualisation

]]> By: paul wrighthttp://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/comment-page-1/#comment-24811 paul wright Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:25:56 +0000 http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/?p=143#comment-24811 y2k cost $300,000,000,000 to fix . the reason nothing happened was that it was fixed! we were lucky with the last flu epidemic, just plain lucky. next time might be different, next time might be 1918 revisited. there is a difference between risk analysis and prophesy - it not happening does not mean the risk was not there. y2k cost $300,000,000,000 to fix . the reason nothing happened was that it was fixed!
we were lucky with the last flu epidemic, just plain lucky. next time might be different, next time might be 1918 revisited. there is a difference between risk analysis and prophesy – it not happening does not mean the risk was not there.

]]> By: Urvihttp://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/comment-page-1/#comment-23894 Urvi Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:23:32 +0000 http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/?p=143#comment-23894 This is really beautiful !! Kudos to the creator! This is really beautiful !!
Kudos to the creator!

]]> By: Christopher Lunahttp://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/comment-page-1/#comment-23050 Christopher Luna Thu, 03 Jun 2010 02:22:43 +0000 http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/?p=143#comment-23050 I wish that you had a numerical scale on the Y-axis. You say that intensity is measures as a number of news stories, but it would be interesting to know the scale involved. How many thousands of stories are we talking about here? I wish that you had a numerical scale on the Y-axis. You say that intensity is measures as a number of news stories, but it would be interesting to know the scale involved. How many thousands of stories are we talking about here?

]]> By: jimhttp://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/comment-page-1/#comment-22819 jim Wed, 26 May 2010 18:32:52 +0000 http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/?p=143#comment-22819 This assumes that a crisis averted was a crisis that never existed. Not a wise trend. This assumes that a crisis averted was a crisis that never existed. Not a wise trend.

]]> By: Abehttp://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/comment-page-1/#comment-20356 Abe Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:07:08 +0000 http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/?p=143#comment-20356 I am particularly interested in the annual periodicity of some of the events. For example, the killer wasps happens every year at a low intensity just after the middle of the year. The violent video game thing happens at the end of each year: it spikes and then drops, and then gradually increases again. And as a trend, it gradually decreases.The massive bio-pandemic trend is really scary. SARS looks like a nice gradually increase, then Bird Flu hits, and has a very pronounced peak and is about 130% the intensity of SARS at its peak, and finally Swine Flu is a huge pronounced spike, around 200% SARS... The scary thing here is that, although the pandemic threats seem to be getting farther apart, they are also getting exponentially more pronounced .... : / I'm not looking forward to the next one. I am particularly interested in the annual periodicity of some of the events. For example, the killer wasps happens every year at a low intensity just after the middle of the year. The violent video game thing happens at the end of each year: it spikes and then drops, and then gradually increases again. And as a trend, it gradually decreases.

The massive bio-pandemic trend is really scary. SARS looks like a nice gradually increase, then Bird Flu hits, and has a very pronounced peak and is about 130% the intensity of SARS at its peak, and finally Swine Flu is a huge pronounced spike, around 200% SARS… The scary thing here is that, although the pandemic threats seem to be getting farther apart, they are also getting exponentially more pronounced …. : / I’m not looking forward to the next one.

]]> By: Alexhttp://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/comment-page-1/#comment-18932 Alex Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:36:54 +0000 http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/?p=143#comment-18932 Why is mobile phones and tumors zero? Haven't there been reputable studies very recently that say there might be some link? To say zero so authoritatively is misleading. Why is mobile phones and tumors zero? Haven’t there been reputable studies very recently that say there might be some link? To say zero so authoritatively is misleading.

]]> By: cpmcmullenhttp://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2009/mountains-out-of-molehills/comment-page-1/#comment-17011 cpmcmullen Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:11:32 +0000 http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/?p=143#comment-17011 where is the dec 2004 Indian ocean earthquake/tsunami? where is the dec 2004 Indian ocean earthquake/tsunami?

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