micromort

English

Etymology

micro- (“one millionth”) +‎ mort (“death”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪkɹəˌmɔ(ɹ)t/

Noun

micromort (plural micromorts)

1. A unit of risk equivalent to a one-in-a-million probability of death.

   Coordinate term: microlife

   • 2012 February 16, David Spiegelhalter, “Microlives: A lesson in risk taking”, in BBC Future‎^[1]:

     This is described as 10 micromorts per operation, and we can compare this figure with other average risks, such as skydiving (also 10 micromorts), or riding a motorcycle in the UK (yoou^[sic] have to go around 60 miles to rack up 10 micromorts).

   • 2020, Gregor Hohpe, The Software Architect Elevator […] , O'Reilly, →ISBN, page 49:

     Taking one pill from the jar amounts to being exposed to exactly one micromort. The amount you are willing to pay to avoid this risk is called your micromort value. Micromorts help us reason about decisions with small probabilities but very serious outcomes, such as deciding whether to undergo surgery that eliminates life-long pain but fails with a 1% probability, resulting in immediate death.