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“What Do People Not Realize Has An Extremely Low Chance Of Happening?” (45 Answers)
Despite the fact that most of us see multiple thunderstorms a year over the course of our lifetimes, the chances of being hit by lightning is incredibly low. But like winning hands in blackjack or dying in a plane crash, even a low probability isn’t the same as impossible.
Someone asked “What do people not realize has an extremely low chance of happening?” and netizens shared their most improbable examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own examples and experiences in the comments section below.
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#1
Being attacked by a trans woman in the bathroom. The chances are so low it essentially doesn't happen. Transwomen are much more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.
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#2
People handing out m**ijuana edibles to kids on Halloween. Literally, no one does that. No one would be careless enough to do that. That s**t is expensive, and people want to get high off them.
#3
One Presidential candidate being shot and the other one dropping out inside of a 10 day span.
#4
Drowning in quicksand. I spent far too much time as a child thinking this was going to be an adult concern.
#5
Being k*lled by a serial k*iller. I was a sociology major in college and in my Deviant Behavior class, this is what my teacher said at the beginning of a lesson about serial k*llers: "None of you will be k*lled by a serial k*ller. I'm telling you as a statistician that the likelihood of it is nil. Even the most prolific of serial k*ller's victims make up a fraction of a percent of people who die from m*rder."
Sadly you are much more likely to be k*lled by someone you know. same goes for sexual assault and trafficking. It's actually very unlikely to be a stranger.
#6
Being thrown from a car during an accident, and coming out unharmed. I know people to this day that don't wear seatbelts because they think it's safer to be thrown out.
Binky Melnik 1 month ago
I just can’t imagine how even the most foolish, stupid idiot could think that. Imagine breaking the windshield with your FACE as you’re thrown from the vehicle. Your face is MUCH more fragile than even the weakest windshield, yet people think that’s an okay thing to do? 😳
#7
Random child abductions are extremely rare, most of the time it's one of the parents. Of course you should teach your kids stranger danger, but the way some parents behave they think there's kidnappers hiding behind every bush.
#9
People often overestimate the chance of a plane crash, but the odds are about 1 in 11 million for a commercial flight.
Binky Melnik 1 month ago
I’Ve seen sooo many nervous flyers freaking out, scared the plane will crash, and yet they haven’t the slightest qualm about riding in a car. People just don’t understand statistics.
#10
Having an adverse reaction to covid vaccines
Some people lose their mind over it.
#11
Actually coming out ahead in gambling, if you do it often enough.
Of course, anyone with a decent brain knows that typical gambling is negative value every time, but if you do it often enough, it's even less likely that you'll come out ahead (as the number of events being looked at approaches infinity, the outcome will approach the mean - which is negative value).
That's one reason why if you put on a 'cheeky bet' and end up winning, just quit while you're ahead. Or don't bet in the first place (it's fine if you can consider it an entertainment expense, but all too many people try to use that as a justification when the truth is that they're really hoping to buck the odds, and the maths doesn't care about how much you wish it would bend to you).
#13
Making a living from YouTube or playing video games.
Edit*
I agree with alot of us saying it requires an uncontrollable amount of luck, despite the quality of content. I'm a teacher and it k*lls me to hear how popular this idea has become lately. More so, how unfair and fickle it all seems to me at times. I see small youtubers poor their heart and soul into their content,like literally building an entire drift car project,but barely manage to build an audience. Other times I see what I believe are just e-beggers making millions from mediocre content, playing games poorly or worse people who simply steal content and do voice overs. Man, must be nice to make millions stealing internet videos and doing some obvious voice over narration but that's a whole different subject.
#14
Hollywood stealing your idea because you told someone in a bar it'd be cool if Batman fought Deadpool.
Binky Melnik 1 month ago
In the SHOWBIZ forum on CompuServe, we had a screenwriter who daily complained about his ideas being stolen by Hollywood. When we asked what ideas were stolen, he’d point to a commercial in which a mother squeezed oranges for juice and gave her kids bowls of cereal. “Yeah, but what idea of yours was stolen?” It was a mother squeezing juice and feeding kids cereal! 😳 Any time we asked what was stolen, they weren’t ideas but mundane scenes that appear EVERYWHERE, like a kid skateboarding while eating a popsicle, or a man working on his car when his kid jumped in and started it, or a kid waking from a nightmare and his mom soothing him. We learned pretty quickly not to ask him about his “stolen ideas” because he was apparently crazy, but it made for fun stories when we met up IRL.
#15
Growing up I was sure that grown ups were constantly on fire, sinking in quick sand, and offering free d***s to every kid they see/sticking if in random pieces of candy...
#16
Becoming a professional athlete. I see so many parents grooming their kids to go pro but don’t really give them life skills so when they inevitably don’t make it, the child ends up lost in life not knowing what to do.
#17
Making money at an MLM or pyramid scheme, 95% of the people entering those things will lose money, and they know it, the only thing is that promotors convince them that they will be part of the 5%. They won't.
Binky Melnik 1 month ago
The ONLY people who make money from pyramid schemes are the people who start it. They make a fortune from their marks, who’re unable to do the math and realize that by the time you get to the sixth or seventh level, there are more people trying to sell product than there are people on planet Earth.
#19
Being “awake” under anesthesia. People worry about it often thanks to Hollywood or a story someone told them. The reality is that true awareness under anesthesia is close to 1 in a million, and most anesthesiologists will never see it in their entire career. Real awareness under anesthesia means that you a paralyzed as the surgeon is actively working. It is traumatic and associated with PTSD.
People often say that they were “awake” under anesthesia, but this is usually due to a few things. Poor communication by the anesthesiologist — the patient thought they would be asleep, but they will only get sedation. They remember things prior to surgery — like being in the room, seeing the equipment, and/or having a mask on their face. This is fairly normal. Lastly sometimes patients say they “woke up early”. Some practices wake people up in the recovery area, but it’s also common for patients to be woken up in the room. Sometimes this occurs as a dressing is being applied. Again, this is normal.
It is really rare to have true awareness under general anesthesia. Good communication preoperatively helps patients to know what to expect during the surgery.
Binky Melnik 1 month ago (edited)
I’m REALLY glad I read this as I had begun to believe it’s not all that uncommon for people to be awake and aware of what’s going on during surgery. If it’s crazy-rare, then I’m gonna stop worrying about it! Thanks, BP, for including this one! (Having said this, when I was prepped for a minor heart procedure in which I was having ablation done, my wrists and ankles were restrained. I asked why, and was told just in case I woke up and thrashed … which is exactly what happened! When the surgeon cut into my groin, it hurt a LOT and I woke up and attempted to both sit up and yank my leg away. Good thing I was restrained after all!)
#20
That we are going to be able to survive unchanged after AI progresses a little further and the “average” person will not be able to determine fake video from real video. Worried about “bots” on twitter or Reddit now? Just wait.
#21
Being killed by a terrorist or immigrant. According to the CDC cancer, heart disease are coming for you.
#22
A lot of people here are falling for the logical fallacy of small probabilities. "Since the probability of x is so small, it's an invalid fear". But while the probabilty of you dying today, for example, is small, according to some sources,166,859 people still die every day, the probability of you dying today is modulated, in part, by your choices and behaviors, and the probability that you will die eventually is 100%. A lot of things affect only a small percentage of the population but their absolute numbers are still high enough to be significant issues. Covid is a good example of this. Most people did not become seriously ill or die of covid even before the vaccination but covid was still a public health nightmare due the strained community resources and took an unprecedented number of lives. .
#23
Being buried alive.
I can't believe how many smart people I know that think this can actually happen. I always ask them how they plan to survive being embalmed first and they give me a blank stare.
Binky Melnik 1 month ago
I don’t have this worry as I plan to be cremated! (And I don’t understand people who wanna take up acreage with their rotting corpse and coffin, but to each his own, I spose.)
#25
Making money at a casino. If you go, go to have fun and keep your losses to a specific number. If you think you’ll make money, absolutely do not go.
#26
The person most likely to k*ll you is... yourself. More people die from s****de than from wars, natural disasters combined
#28
Any one of the natural disasters big enough to create any real extinction event. Super random, rare and not likely in your life by the current projections.
#31
Dislocating your kneecap when you sneeze.
Happened to a coworker of mine. Their doctor said that it's not common, but it isn't unheard of.
#32
Becoming millionaires affected by the tax raises they vote against
Edit: there might be a problem with semantics in my original comment, but you guys need to stop assuming everyone is American.
#33
Prion Disease, or CJD -- you don't need to eat contaminated meat or otherwise be exposed. We all have about a one-in-a-million chance of spontaneously developing one.
#34
I guess a lot of young dudes will hate me for that, but Im truly sure that nowadays it is a chance of becoming a famous rapper starting from zero, it's possible if you already have money and professional production behind you, but it's impossible to become a star from your parents' bedroom, sorry.
#40
Crowded restaurant in a foreign country, stranger eating alone offered to share their table, found we had mutual friends.
#41
A third party ever winning an election in the us.
#44
Finding your soulmate
Imagine every person is a puzzle piece. There are 8 billion pieces. Do you think the 3-4 pieces you fit in perfectly with are going to be in your immediate area? Find one that’s close and make it work. There are plenty of remarkable pieces that fit pretty well even if they’re not the *one* and you might even make a neat picture in your tiny part pf the world.
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