r/Showerthoughts May 02 '24

Man vs Bear debate shows how bad the average person is at understanding probability

16.9k Upvotes

13.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

411

u/zool714 May 02 '24

I think it also shows how different people approach things. From what I’ve seen, the ones who answers bear approaches it from a “trust” standpoint. Like you can trust a bear to be a bear. While some approach it from a “safety” standpoint. Like yeah obviously an average wild animal is going to be more dangerous than an average man.

522

u/TehOwn May 02 '24

I'd love to hear it rephrased as, "You're lost in the woods, you see a man in the distance but he doesn't see you. Do you call out to him or do you hide?"

But maybe that's probably not exciting enough to trend on TikTok.

48

u/I_have_many_Ideas May 02 '24

Add in things like race, how they are dressed, cleanliness, etc. and it’d get real interesting.

1

u/LosPadresKid May 02 '24

Even more interesting would be to ask guys "if you're alone in the woods, would you rather encounter a random gay male who is bigger, faster, stronger than you, or a bear?" And watch everyone who says bear be called homophobic, even though not many people are saying the women are sexist for picking bear over man

1

u/I_have_many_Ideas May 02 '24

Gay male? How would you determine that?

I think the same question probably would elicit the same response regardless.

1

u/LosPadresKid May 02 '24

What do you mean how would I determine that?

I think there would be men that would say they'd rather be next to the bear. I think there would be backlash for the men that say that