But only for good things. That rare medical condition, complication during surgery, traffic accident etc, nah, won’t happen to me.
Not likely.
No one else has the same story as your life.
You are all unique!
Yes! We are all unique!
From an evolutionary standpoint, we have the most advanced pattern recognition in the world. It is, in some sense, what makes us human. It is also the root of our capacity for language, reasoning, music, etc.
Looking for exceptions to complex patterns is key to our survival over great lengths of time.
“But will it work?”
“It has to, sir. It’s a million-to-one chance.”
“Oh, then we don’t have to worry. Everyone knows million-to-one chances always work.”
But the trick is that they have to be EXACTLY million-to-one.
GNY Sir Terry Pratchett
And that has always completely baffled me. What’s the reasoning behind it? Why? Are they delusional? Do they consider themselves somehow special? If something has 99%+ chance of failure, theres absolutely no point to evne try or consider it as something that can happen, it’s basically a statistical anomaly.
What’s the reasoning behind it?
We crave validation from others and ourselves by being considered “rare” or capable of creating “rarity” in an ocean of mediocrity and banality to justify our state, choices, and attitudes. We consider “rarity” as inherently valuable and a virtue to aspire to.
Makes sense. I wouldn’t say being mediocre is bad, but each to their own.
“Mediocrity” (sort of) implies “middling”, etymologically, which is what most people are. Average.
Reminds me of some lyrics by the Foo Fighters, “There goes my hero; he’s ordinary.”
