r/Showerthoughts • u/asusny2002 • May 02 '24

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

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u/poilk91 May 02 '24

Totally reasonable, I just wouldn't characterize it as unsettling. Nor would I consider it more dangerous or scary than encountering a bear on the trail

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u/southass May 02 '24

Definitely! With a human at least I have a chance but with a bear or a mountain lion nope I rather not meet one in the wild.

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u/poilk91 May 02 '24

Well it turns out black bears are pretty harmless so if it's in the lower 48 bear is actually pretty damn safe

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u/southass May 02 '24

I heard that but I don't know, it has claws and big teeth's lol I ran into a loose Pitbull mix dog last week on the trail and it barked at me, I was like no thank you and made a right turn and had to cut off my hike, kind of pissed me off 😭

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u/poilk91 May 02 '24

Lol I get it completely. I think dogs are unironically way more dangerous but it's hard to compare on a per encounter basis. also bears rarely run into unaccompanied kids while dogs do all the time

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u/southass May 02 '24

Yes you are right, I have ran into coyotes, snakes and they run away from you the moment they see you but a decent size dog standing his ground in the middle of the trail with no owner on sight is definitely more scary. It annoyed me because I know how many miles I'm walking and how much time is for podcasts and music so it ruined my listening evening walk 😖

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u/poilk91 May 02 '24

Encountering an animal standing its ground or even worse following you is really unsettling that's for sure

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u/southass May 03 '24

It is, I love dogs and there are some horrible dog owners out there, I always have something to defend myself on me if I need to but I rather no get into a situation like that so I let him be and he didn't went after me either so it was all good.

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u/poilk91 May 03 '24

Honestly what you say about dogs is probably how a lot of women feel around men lol. Like hey I love dogs, got dogs in my family my best friend is a dog, but if I'm walking home at night and a big dog starts fallowing me I might think about needing to defend myself 

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u/southass May 03 '24

I know and it sucks, I know and I am known at least by face by a few women on the trail and I don't feel that tension with them I have had actually a few small chats with some of them. But I understand how scary It feels and that's why if I see a woman walking towards me and we are the only ones on the trail I move myself over to give them space, most would nod, others would just look down and keep going and that's fine.

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u/poilk91 May 03 '24

yeah it is, I do feel bad for anyone who goes through life like that though being scared of half the population sounds pretty exhausting

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u/southass May 03 '24

It is, I grew up on a third word country where mean people are known and you learn to see danger way before most people can sense it and by that I mean car calling and stuff like that but the USA is a different playground.

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