And the massive flaw in your argument is that you're comparing different professions.
Combat against harmless Sidewinders doesn't pay more than combat against elite Anacondas now does it?
So why should low risk exploration pay higher than (nominally) high risk exploration?
those were only some of my examples - which Isn’t a flaw as you suggest because the very core of your argument was risk = higher pay. However, go with your restriction of only being able to use the risk rationale when it is comparing within a profession and not between disparate professions.
Examine it when you see what you are saying - according to your restriction on my ’flawed argument’
a) when comparing completely separate professions, it makes sense that low risk job like hedge fund manager is much higher paid than routine risk of injury or death firefighter
b) but somehow when comparing intra-profession, suddenly the risk reward system reversed and now the higher risk sub category is higher paid?
sorry, doesnt work that way - one or the other risk system is true or false, it can’t just reverse in one and not the other. But ok, say for devils advocate we go with you restriction of ignoring between professions and only compare within the same general profession.
Military - a General is much higher paid than a Private. Who is much more likely to die in combat and routinely takes more risk?
Fire Dept - the guys who actually run into the burning buildings make less than the safer, cushier desk or light field guys - arson investigator, etc
Oil industry - both the blue collar and white collar jobs on a rig, where regardless of sub-job you have risk of explosion or fire, are paid far less than the even cushier zero risk job of reading data and calculating where the rigs ought to be setup
List goes on and on - even with the nonsensical restriction of comparing within same profession, while ignoring between professions, there are plenty of examples that dont correlate to risk must equal greater pay.