Last week I watched a 90-minute video of a white-water kayaking trip taken by two men in their early 30s. I saw them master many, many rough and wild rivers as they traveled through Chile and Peru. The kayaking looked more than a bit unnerving to me but the duo seemed exhilarated. At the end of the movie, when the credits rolled, those in the large audience read that both men are now dead; the event at which I saw this video was the memorial service for one of them. He died last summer in a motorcycle accident training for the Baja 500.
I thought about those men frequently in the past several days, about the human desire to take risks, and about risk-seeking people, particularly when I read the ABC News article "Fear Junkies" from which I quote.
Researchers say risk takers' brains are just different. They have higher arousal thresholds. It takes more danger to make them feel scared.
If you're one of them, [Dr. Frank] Farley says, you know who you are. "You like novelty, variety, intensity, change. You don't like too many rules."
Do you know of any lawyers described by those last two sentences? I would like to interview some lawyers who are extreme risk takers, whether on the job or off. If you are one, or know of one, please contact me.
Note (added March 4, 2007, 12:26 PM Mountain): More information about the Type-T personality (Thrill seeker). And the original article, from Time, "Looking for a Life of Thrills."
Note (added March 12, 2012): "Insects have personality too, research on honey bees indicates" (Eurekalert):
A new study in Science suggests that thrill-seeking is not limited to humans and other vertebrates. Some honey bees, too, are more likely than others to seek adventure. The brains of these novelty-seeking bees exhibit distinct patterns of gene activity in molecular pathways known to be associated with thrill-seeking in humans, researchers report.
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