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Loughlalast Thursday at 12:55 PM2 repliesview on HN

That's not really an answer though.

My kid walks home from his friend's houses in the woods at night alone all the time. He has never once been eaten or kidnapped.

Statistically your children are more likely to be victimized by you than a stranger. So by your logic, you should probably keep them away from you. Right?


Replies

hylaridelast Thursday at 2:30 PM

Nominally I agree with you, but your example is classic survivorship bias.

The chances of getting kidnapped are and always were far, far, far less than automobile related injuries and deaths, yet we just see that as a normal risk of modern life.

I have been wondering if the fact that the current generation of 20-somethings isn't going out as much is because of this "over parenting" that they received. I'm sure it's also TikTok, living costs, and avoiding other vice related behaviour (drinking, sex) at such high rates, but it does make me think...

dlisboalast Thursday at 1:17 PM

That's a useless statistic in this context. Statistically you're more likely to be killed by yourself than someone else. So, do you kill yourself to get it over with? Do you let a shooter shoot you because statistically it's better that the gun is on their hands than yours? Ridiculous, right?

It's just a zero insight use of numbers.

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