Re: [at-l] Re: at-l-digest/Gatewood

[Rick Bombaci <rpb@eoni.com>]

At 07:08 PM 1/1/00 -0500, Saunterer wrote:

>Grandma Gatewood walked out on her own because she accepted the idea that
>she was primarily responsible for 'rescuing' herself. She didn't sit down,
>place a cell phone call and say "come and get me". It wasn't December on
>Mount Washington and the folks looking for her weren't putting their lives
>at extreme risk to find her. I think this is the crux of this discussion.
>The folks who are likely to be charged are the ones who ignore common
>sense, walk past warning signs and blow off the advice of Rangers and other
>hikers to put themselves into situations with a high potential for deadly
>outcome then blithly place a cell phone call for help as if it was as
>simple as calling for a cab.

Want people to use less of something?  Charge more for it.  Works.  Sock
people for search-and-rescue, widely advertise the fact, and you'll find
more people behaving like Grandma Gatewood.  This is why I think it makes
sense for the NH folks to let us all know that we may be charged.  Of
course, an unintended side-effect may be that some people who really need
to be rescued may choose not to place a call because they don't want to pay
a bunch of money for the rescue.

Gosh, I think maybe I'm glad I'm not on a search-and-rescue team.  My head
hurts.

This whole discussion reminds me of a thought I've been simmering for quite
some time.  It seems to me that technology really drives social mores to a
huge extent, because new technologies constantly create new situations for
which we haven't thought through the ethical dimensions.  Ten years ago,
there was no need to discuss the merits of rescuing people who have placed
a cell phone call from the top of Mt. Madison because they need some
parmesan cheese for their pizza; there were no cell phones.  When personal
anti-gravity cars (a la Dick Tracy) become a reality, just think of the
endless discussions people will have about whether it's OK to use them to
get to your favorite fishing hole up in the mountains...
* From the Appalachian Trail Mailing List |  http://www.backcountry.net  *

==============================================================================