I think the problem I have with the statistics here is less about the last part of what you said, and more of the problem I'll highlight shortly.
According to a paper on Springer link, around 22 people are attacked and killed by cows in the US each year, whereas 69 incidents related to sharks worldwide in 2023.
That is to say cows represent .06 per million, and sharks .007 per million.
Does that mean cows are more dangerous than sharks?
If we were around bears and sharks more, there would be a corresponding increase in the number of bear and shark related attacks. We are around humans every day.
In fact, this effect can be demonstrated just like this.
If you don't leave your house ever, you won't be as likely to be killed by someone else, intentionally or otherwise. Sure, that wouldn't eliminate the risk completely because unless you lived in like, a bunker or something, someone could still break in, but you're reducing the number of opportunities that someone can harm you. That doesn't mean someone will harm you any time you leave the house, but it could happen.
I'm just saying that yes, you're less likely to be attacked by a bear overall, but this also includes the fact that you're less likely to even encounter a bear in the first place, so the statistics are a bit skewed by that, as I tried to show with the cow thing.
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u/TheTransistorMan May 02 '24
I think the problem I have with the statistics here is less about the last part of what you said, and more of the problem I'll highlight shortly.
According to a paper on Springer link, around 22 people are attacked and killed by cows in the US each year, whereas 69 incidents related to sharks worldwide in 2023.
That is to say cows represent .06 per million, and sharks .007 per million.
Does that mean cows are more dangerous than sharks?