Risk is very explicitly directional. E.g. Wikipedia has it as:

> Risk is the potential of loss (an undesirable outcome, however not necessarily so) resulting from a given action, activity and/or inaction

When was the last time you checked?

Instability is volatility (sigma). check it out.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100630193942AA...

I didn't even mention volatility or stability. I was challenging your assertion that risk was agnostic to direction. It is not.

Try this refresher on Risk and Uncertainty

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2010/06/ris...

Steady growth is the expected economic baseline. Wild swings in growth, both positive and negative, cause instability. Instability also reduces long-term growth, because the harder it is to predict what will happen, the less people invest.

I don't want to be mean but this is about the worst HN pedantry I could imagine.