[7952]

The biggest lapse in understanding is that people cannot deal with the order of magnitude differences in numbers involved. Humans are sometimes "the flea" and other times "the elephant". It is difficult to decide intuitively which we are at any particular point. This table[1] demonstrates this point quite well. Humans interact with the environment in ways that are orders of magnitude different in terms of impact, but it is hard to conceptualize that fact.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(power)

[rfatnabayeff]

I didn't get your point. Should we stop controlling road traffic and prevent car accidents until the very last malaria mosquito is dead?