Pascal's Wager with Deep Slab Instability
It’s early January. Old depth hoar at the base of the snowpack.
He peers down the slope. Steep and north facing.
V1: Pascal believes it’s stable and skis the slope. The best run of his life.
V2: Pascal believes it’s stable and skis the slope. It shatters like a pane of glass and he’s buried. Waiting. Silence.
V3: Pascal believes it’s unstable. He turns away, but the slope is indeed stable.
V4: Pascal believes it’s unstable. He turns away but remotely triggers the slope on his kick turn.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) - French mathematician, physicist, philosopher, and theologian. He offered a logical reason for believing in God; even under the assumption that God’s existence is unlikely, the potential benefits of believing are so vast as to make betting on theism rational.
Special Thanks to my friend Jon Berdahl
