merrill@rex.DEC (01/31/85)
neuclear war? cancer? heartattack? car accident? These are listed in reverse order of proven, statistical likelyhood. It would make sense to worry about them in proportion to their likelyhood, especially since you have more chance to DO something about car accident (like drive 55) than you have of stopping war, unless you're in the diplomatic corps. I've had a doctor examine my heart, tell me i'm just AOK, then as I'm leaving he says, "of course you could walk out of here and just drop dead - I really cannot predict ..." ! I've had a psychiatrist tell me I'm normal - then say "of course, you could go crazy tomorrow - I really cannot ... " !
jonw@eros.UUCP (Jon White) (02/04/85)
>> neuclear war? cancer? heartattack? car accident? These are listed in >> reverse order of proven, statistical likelyhood. It would make sense >> to worry about them in proportion to their likelyhood, especially since >> you have more chance to DO something about car accident (like drive 55) >> than you have of stopping war, unless you're in the diplomatic corps. Baloney. Does it really make sense to worry about possibilities based solely on their statistical likelihood? I don't think so. Consider how likely it is that you might catch a cold this winter. Does that mean that you should worry more about catching a cold than getting into a car accident? I don't know if anyone can really calculate the statistical likelihood of nuclear war, but the results of such an event would be so devastating on a global scale that all of us have to worry about that possibility and do whatever we can to make sure that it never happens. Jon White