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The odds of a 30-something man dying in any one year are roughly 1,000 to 1, but that's everyone, not just "healthy" ones - so a large number of those who die would have long-standing illnesses or other factors giving them a much higher death risk (serious mental health issues for instance). So a male who starts a given statistical year in a "healthy" state has only a fraction of those odds of dying, and even smaller odds that it would happen in a short space of time (say the next hour) - the only likely causes of which are unforeseen accidents / freak occurrences (being hit by a bus / car crash etc) or sudden medical things like heart attacks / strokes etc.

So assuming you are healthy you probably ARE more likely to win the lottery this week than you are to die unexpectedly...but only if you've bought a ticket. Hence statistics prove that everyone should enter the lottery, because if you don't then your chances of dying in the near future definitely far exceed your chances of winning a large amount of money, which is a truly depressing thought.

(I will now be slightly paranoid when I leave the office at lunchtime - there are lots of buses near where I work.)
(wombler, Fri 8 May 2009, 11:06, Reply)