Despite the fact that most of us see multiple thunderstorms a year over the course of our lifetimes, the chances of being hit by lightning is incredibly low. But like winning hands in blackjack or dying in a plane crash, even a low probability isn’t the same as impossible.
Someone asked “What do people not realize has an extremely low chance of happening?” and netizens shared their most improbable examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own examples and experiences in the comments section below.
#1
Being attacked by a trans woman in the bathroom. The chances are so low it essentially doesn't happen. Transwomen are much more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.
#2
People handing out m**ijuana edibles to kids on Halloween. Literally, no one does that. No one would be careless enough to do that. That s**t is expensive, and people want to get high off them.
Image credits: Supersaiajinblue
#3
Gun owners overestimate the chance that they'll use the gun for self defense and underestimate the chance that the gun will be used to k*ll its owner.
#4
One Presidential candidate being shot and the other one dropping out inside of a 10 day span.
Image credits: agreeingstorm9
#5
Drowning in quicksand. I spent far too much time as a child thinking this was going to be an adult concern.
Image credits: blood_kite
#6
A third party ever winning an election in the us.
Image credits: stefani1034
#7
Being thrown from a car during an accident, and coming out unharmed. I know people to this day that don't wear seatbelts because they think it's safer to be thrown out.
Image credits: spiff2268
#8
Random child abductions are extremely rare, most of the time it's one of the parents. Of course you should teach your kids stranger danger, but the way some parents behave they think there's kidnappers hiding behind every bush.
Image credits: zerbey
#9
Being k*lled by a serial k*iller. I was a sociology major in college and in my Deviant Behavior class, this is what my teacher said at the beginning of a lesson about serial k*llers: "None of you will be k*lled by a serial k*ller. I'm telling you as a statistician that the likelihood of it is nil. Even the most prolific of serial k*ller's victims make up a fraction of a percent of people who die from m*rder."
Sadly you are much more likely to be k*lled by someone you know. same goes for sexual assault and trafficking. It's actually very unlikely to be a stranger.
Image credits: checkmeeowt
#10
Winning the lottery - but hey, a girl can dream right?
Image credits: moaningprincessx
#11
Change someones opinion on the internet.
#12
Your 11 year old becoming a professional baseball player.
Image credits: number1momordie
#13
Contracting a brain eating amoeba from swimming - it happens but only on average 3.3 cases per year in the entire world, but to my kid on the spectrum anytime he goes near water it’s gonna happen to him, poor guy. We are working on it.
Image credits: chewedupbylife
#14
Actually coming out ahead in gambling, if you do it often enough.
Of course, anyone with a decent brain knows that typical gambling is negative value every time, but if you do it often enough, it's even less likely that you'll come out ahead (as the number of events being looked at approaches infinity, the outcome will approach the mean - which is negative value).
That's one reason why if you put on a 'cheeky bet' and end up winning, just quit while you're ahead. Or don't bet in the first place (it's fine if you can consider it an entertainment expense, but all too many people try to use that as a justification when the truth is that they're really hoping to buck the odds, and the maths doesn't care about how much you wish it would bend to you).
Image credits: Mugen8YT
#15
Having an adverse reaction to covid vaccines
Some people lose their mind over it.
#16
Surviving after CPR. It's roughly 7-10% if you're outside the hospital, and even less when you're a senior citizen.
It's also very brutal, as many people aren't prepared to see 200 pound men putting their body weight onto grandpa and grandma's chest, breaking all their ribs, instead of just letting them pass peacefully.
Image credits: MilkOfAnesthesia
#17
People often overestimate the chance of a plane crash, but the odds are about 1 in 11 million for a commercial flight.
Image credits: Acko_1994
#18
Becoming rich through hard work.
#19
Becoming an Internet influencer.
Image credits: Linux4ever_Leo
#20
Making a living from YouTube or playing video games.
Edit*
I agree with alot of us saying it requires an uncontrollable amount of luck, despite the quality of content. I'm a teacher and it k*lls me to hear how popular this idea has become lately. More so, how unfair and fickle it all seems to me at times. I see small youtubers poor their heart and soul into their content,like literally building an entire drift car project,but barely manage to build an audience. Other times I see what I believe are just e-beggers making millions from mediocre content, playing games poorly or worse people who simply steal content and do voice overs. Man, must be nice to make millions stealing internet videos and doing some obvious voice over narration but that's a whole different subject.
Image credits: LetTheRainsComeDown
#21
Hollywood stealing your idea because you told someone in a bar it'd be cool if Batman fought Deadpool.
Image credits: JeffRyan1
#22
Becoming a professional athlete. I see so many parents grooming their kids to go pro but don’t really give them life skills so when they inevitably don’t make it, the child ends up lost in life not knowing what to do.
#23
Growing up I was sure that grown ups were constantly on fire, sinking in quick sand, and offering free d***s to every kid they see/sticking if in random pieces of candy...
Image credits: minipenguz
#24
Dislocating your kneecap when you sneeze.
Happened to a coworker of mine. Their doctor said that it's not common, but it isn't unheard of.
Image credits: Wappening
#25
Getting attacked by a shark on the beach. It's so low it's not funny.
Image credits: Altruistic_Candle254
#26
Finding your soulmate
Imagine every person is a puzzle piece. There are 8 billion pieces. Do you think the 3-4 pieces you fit in perfectly with are going to be in your immediate area? Find one that’s close and make it work. There are plenty of remarkable pieces that fit pretty well even if they’re not the *one* and you might even make a neat picture in your tiny part pf the world.
#27
A politician doing what they promise to do if elected.
#28
Making money at an MLM or pyramid scheme, 95% of the people entering those things will lose money, and they know it, the only thing is that promotors convince them that they will be part of the 5%. They won't.
#29
Becoming millionaires affected by the tax raises they vote against
Edit: there might be a problem with semantics in my original comment, but you guys need to stop assuming everyone is American.
#30
Being “awake” under anesthesia. People worry about it often thanks to Hollywood or a story someone told them. The reality is that true awareness under anesthesia is close to 1 in a million, and most anesthesiologists will never see it in their entire career. Real awareness under anesthesia means that you a paralyzed as the surgeon is actively working. It is traumatic and associated with PTSD.
People often say that they were “awake” under anesthesia, but this is usually due to a few things. Poor communication by the anesthesiologist — the patient thought they would be asleep, but they will only get sedation. They remember things prior to surgery — like being in the room, seeing the equipment, and/or having a mask on their face. This is fairly normal. Lastly sometimes patients say they “woke up early”. Some practices wake people up in the recovery area, but it’s also common for patients to be woken up in the room. Sometimes this occurs as a dressing is being applied. Again, this is normal.
It is really rare to have true awareness under general anesthesia. Good communication preoperatively helps patients to know what to expect during the surgery.
Image credits: greatbrono7
#31
That we are going to be able to survive unchanged after AI progresses a little further and the “average” person will not be able to determine fake video from real video. Worried about “bots” on twitter or Reddit now? Just wait.
Image credits: Atomicwasteland
#32
If you drive to the airport to catch a flight, congratulations, you won. The odds of you dying have significantly and infinitesimally reduced. You have better odds at the lottery than you do dying on that plane, compared to the rolling death trap that is a car.
#33
Being killed by a terrorist or immigrant. According to the CDC cancer, heart disease are coming for you.
#34
Prion Disease, or CJD -- you don't need to eat contaminated meat or otherwise be exposed. We all have about a one-in-a-million chance of spontaneously developing one.
Image credits: Proctavia
#35
Everything that you're worried and anxious about.
#36
Being buried alive.
I can't believe how many smart people I know that think this can actually happen. I always ask them how they plan to survive being embalmed first and they give me a blank stare.
#37
A lot of people here are falling for the logical fallacy of small probabilities. "Since the probability of x is so small, it's an invalid fear". But while the probabilty of you dying today, for example, is small, according to some sources,166,859 people still die every day, the probability of you dying today is modulated, in part, by your choices and behaviors, and the probability that you will die eventually is 100%. A lot of things affect only a small percentage of the population but their absolute numbers are still high enough to be significant issues. Covid is a good example of this. Most people did not become seriously ill or die of covid even before the vaccination but covid was still a public health nightmare due the strained community resources and took an unprecedented number of lives. .
#38
Aliens want to visit and trade with us as friends.
#39
The person most likely to k*ll you is... yourself. More people die from s****de than from wars, natural disasters combined
Image credits: pablon91
#40
Making money at a casino. If you go, go to have fun and keep your losses to a specific number. If you think you’ll make money, absolutely do not go.
#41
I guess a lot of young dudes will hate me for that, but Im truly sure that nowadays it is a chance of becoming a famous rapper starting from zero, it's possible if you already have money and professional production behind you, but it's impossible to become a star from your parents' bedroom, sorry.
#42
Making enough money to ever feel financially stable in todays economy.
#43
In the US, a constitutional amendment. It’s virtually an impossibility at this point.
#44
Any one of the natural disasters big enough to create any real extinction event. Super random, rare and not likely in your life by the current projections.
#45
Where we think we will be in 10 years.
#46
Themselves living to 100.
#47
Hitting the jackpot on a slot machine.
#48
A sinkhole opening under you house.
#49
Crowded restaurant in a foreign country, stranger eating alone offered to share their table, found we had mutual friends.
Image credits: dickhead4urmom
#50
That you can die by doing *anything*.
