“These kinds of things” are public perception and, in particular, public perception of risks and what to be afraid of. For these kinds of things single datapoints matter a great deal. Prime example: 9/11.
Public perception of risks notoriously does not care about statistics.
I see, I took you to be responding only to jkaufman’s comment.
Since rare dangers typically get more publicity than common dangers, we might even expect that under many circumstances public angst may increase as the actual danger decreases (due to the remaining incidents getting overreported).
Single datapoints rarely matter with these kinds of things. The overall statistics strongly support the grandparent’s point.
“These kinds of things” are public perception and, in particular, public perception of risks and what to be afraid of. For these kinds of things single datapoints matter a great deal. Prime example: 9/11.
Public perception of risks notoriously does not care about statistics.
I see, I took you to be responding only to jkaufman’s comment.
Since rare dangers typically get more publicity than common dangers, we might even expect that under many circumstances public angst may increase as the actual danger decreases (due to the remaining incidents getting overreported).