Living is fatal

I surf in the ocean. There are sharks in the ocean.

A frequent consequence of these two facts is that I am often asked the following question: Aren't you scared of sharks? The short answer to this question is: Yes, but its so much fun that I surf anyway. The long answer is a bit more interesting.

Sharks kill 5 people annually. More people die from eating shark than those that die from being eaten by a shark. Falling vending machines kill 13 people annually. Four hundred and fifty people die annually in the US from falling out of bed. Texting while driving kills thousands per year.

People, myself included, are generally extremely bad at assessing the probability of something occurring. We tend to over-estimate the probability of something bad happening. A consequence of this phenomenon is that we can end up being afraid of the wrong things. The risk of being attacked by a shark is so small that it is barely worth worrying about. In fact, the stress caused by your shark induced worrying is more likely to kill you than an actual shark. We should be far more concerned and fearful of more mundane things. That doughnut you get with your coffee. The long, stressful hours at work. These are the things that should keep us awake at night. Not sharks. Although, I suspect that a horror movie featuring a zombie doughnut may not achieve much box office success.

Scientists and physicists are far more familiar with the concepts of probability and risk than most of us. One tool in their arsenal is the concept of the likely reward measured against the probability weighted cost. Risk vs reward. Driving my car gives me negligible levels of enjoyment. Statistically it is extremely dangerous, yet I  partake in this risky behaviour every day. The reward of a bag of chips is rather severely outweighed by the probability that the vending machine will fall on me.

A final point is this. If we don't participate in activities that bring huge amounts of joy with minimal levels of risk, can we really say we have lived at all? After all, life is a fatal condition.