Toilets, the next Al-Qaeda?
The NY Times has a great article on the fear of terrorism. I particularly like this statistic:
I knew that the odds of dying in a terrorist attack were infinitesimal, but I didn't know they were drowning-in-a-toilet low. I didn't even realize that people died from drowning in toilets. What a terrible way to go.
Read the article, especially if you're in any way afraid of terrorism.
Although it’s impossible to calculate the pain that terrorist attacks inflict on victims and society, when statisticians look at cold numbers, they have variously estimated the chances of the average person dying in America at the hands of international terrorists to be comparable to the risk of dying from eating peanuts, being struck by an asteroid or drowning in a toilet.
I knew that the odds of dying in a terrorist attack were infinitesimal, but I didn't know they were drowning-in-a-toilet low. I didn't even realize that people died from drowning in toilets. What a terrible way to go.
Read the article, especially if you're in any way afraid of terrorism.
posted at
1/15/2008 08:25:00 PM
Measured Against Reality Feed
1 Comments:
Perhaps you're familiar with the availability heuristic. After 9-11 I would have expected that the bias toward exaggerated sense of risk from terrorism would have escalated dramatically among Americans.
By
dr x, at 5:05 PM, January 16, 2008
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