Re:Americans are underestimating how long disruptions will l...
by dx87 on Friday April 03, 2020 @12:35PM
(#22771042)
That's what I'm thinking. People all over the world knowingly make unhealthy decisions because it makes our lives more enjoyable in the short term, at the expense of usually shortening your lifespan. I don't see people putting up with forced isolation for very long, especially when the vast majority of people won't die from it.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Americans are underestimating how long disruptions will l...
by DapperZoom on Friday April 03, 2020 @12:41PM
(#22771142)
Exactly. We all make these tradeoffs all the time and sacrifice lives for convenience and financial reasons. For example, close to 40K die in the us in traffic accidents every year. That number could be reduced to almost nothing with a 5 mph speed limit. of course, we've decided to take that calculated risk - the benefits of driving at speeds up to 65 or 70 outweigh the low number of annual deaths.
Re:Americans are underestimating how long disruptions will l...
by mehrdadn on Friday April 03, 2020 @12:46PM
(#22771243)
The problem is the risks are orders of magnitude more than the "tradeoffs we make all the time", and clearly not enough people understand this. 40K/300M is 0.013%. It's nothing compared to coronavirus hospitalization or even death rates.
Re:Americans are underestimating how long disruptions will l...
by treis on Friday April 03, 2020 @01:15PM
(#22771659)
That's an annual number while Coronavirus is one and done. A better comparison would be lifetime risk of dying in a car accident.
Re:Americans are underestimating how long disruptions will l...
by mehrdadn on Friday April 03, 2020 @01:18PM
(#22771705)
Okay, feel free to slice and dice it however you want and share the results.
Re:Americans are underestimating how long disruptions will l...
by umanwizard on Friday April 03, 2020 @02:26PM
(#22772508)
The lifetime risk of dying in a car accident is about 1% in the US, according to https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-mortalit... .
Re:Americans are underestimating how long disruptions will l...
by mehrdadn on Friday April 03, 2020 @02:29PM
(#22772548)
And you're equating a lifetime chance with a < 1 year chance because... why? Is having a 1% chance of dying in the next hour the same to you as having a 1% chance of dying in the next 100 years? Is having a 99% chance of dying in the next hour the same to you as having a 99% chance of dying in the next 100 years?