Why are spiders more scary than sharks?

[Anomalocaris]

Spiders are NOT more scary than sharks. Spiders, if treated properly, are our friends. Sharks are utterly terrifying.

Boru

I am going to google it now, but I think spiders kill more people per year than sharks.

Yes, but what percentage of encounters with spiders results in a fatality, vs what percentage of encounters with the great white result in fatality?

If each person in the world encounters on average 10 spiders a year, even if each encounter has only a 1 in a million chance of resulting in a fatality, 70000 people a year world wide would still die from spider encounters. But if the chance of an average person encountering great white in a given year is 1 in a million, then even if every last encounter results in a fatality, you still only get 7000 people, one tenth as many, dying from shark bite.

But, in this scenario, if you run into a shark, you are dead for sure. If you run into a spider, you have 0.999999 chance of escaping unscathed.

So in which encounter should you soil your pants?

[Losty]

I am going to google it now, but I think spiders kill more people per year than sharks.

Yes, but what percentage of encounters with spiders results in a fatality, vs what percentage of encounters with the great white result in fatality?

If each person in the world encounters on average 10 spiders a year, even if each encounter has only a 1 in a million chance of resulting in a fatality, 70000 people a year world wide would still die from spider encounters. But if the chance of an average person encountering great white in a given year is 1 in a million, then even if every last encounter results in a fatality, you still only get 7000 people, one tenth as many, dying from shark bite.

But, in this scenario, if you run into a shark, you are dead for sure. If you run into a spider, you have 0.999999 chance of escaping unscathed.

So in which encounter should you soil your pants?

Irrelevant considering that you're probably a million times more likely to run into a spider on any given day.

[Anomalocaris]

Yes, but what percentage of encounters with spiders results in a fatality, vs what percentage of encounters with the great white result in fatality?

If each person in the world encounters on average 10 spiders a year, even if each encounter has only a 1 in a million chance of resulting in a fatality, 70000 people a year world wide would still die from spider encounters. But if the chance of an average person encountering great white in a given year is 1 in a million, then even if every last encounter results in a fatality, you still only get 7000 people, one tenth as many, dying from shark bite.

But, in this scenario, if you run into a shark, you are dead for sure. If you run into a spider, you have 0.999999 chance of escaping unscathed.

So in which encounter should you soil your pants?

Irrelevant considering that you're probably a million times more likely to run into a spider on any given day.

If you react with as much fear each time you run into a spider as you would when you run into a shark, the chance of you dying for cumulative fright will be a million times higher than dying of actual spider.

On the other hand if you reach with typical amount of fear during the once out of a thousand life times when you run into a shark, you chance of surviving the shark probably increases.

[psychoslice]

I would rather be confronted with a spider than be in the water with a shark.

[Losty]

Umm I doubt I will ever run into a shark. I know I never have. I have no idea how I'd react. No plans on finding out. I'd probably die from fear before the shark got near enough to hurt me. As for spiders I try not to panic. My best option is to call Vosur he helps be rational and think of good ways to escape the spider without crying or fainting.

ETA: he also usually laugh as me

[Anomalocaris]

I had a girlfriend once who was afraid of both cats and dogs, even little ones. She would cross the street when some one comes the other way with a chihuahua on a leash. She would hide behind me if the little dog yelps. I laugh at her and tell her she outweigh the dog 20 to 1 and can send that dog down range like a hockey puck.

She would tell me how many people are bitten by dogs, and how many die of complications like rabies.

I think when men encounter animal, men think "would I be more likely to win or lose this own". When women encounter animal, women think "but how many in the whole world have already lost to its kind"

[Jackalope]

With the greatest respect that is rubbish... people are not scared of spiders because of the results from a brown recluse spider bite... people are scared of spiders because of their legs..

But lobsters have more legs than spiders, and fear of lobsters is pretty rare, I think.

Boru

I dunno, man. You ever tried to catch one of those slippery fuckers with a lobster stick? Little fuckers are frighteningly hard to catch. Damn things are way faster than they look.

[Jackalope]

Great white, on the other hand, need no provocation, have really long teeth, will hunt you down, and will usually bleed you out.

Contrary to popular belief, Great White Sharks are not nearly the mindless killing machines many people think they are.

Unless you look like a seal.

[naimless]

Spiders are more common than sharks

/thread.

[Anomalocaris]

Great white, on the other hand, need no provocation, have really long teeth, will hunt you down, and will usually bleed you out.

Contrary to popular belief, Great White Sharks are not nearly the mindless killing machines many people think they are.

Unless you look like a seal.

No, they are mindful, deliberate killing machines that think biting humans with fatal results is good practice for killing seals.