The video by Vsauce Michael discusses the concept of risk perception and the human tendency to underestimate personal risks and overestimate those affecting others. He uses the example of a world where cigarettes are harmless, but one out of every 18,750 packs contains a single cigarette laced with dynamite. Despite being equally dangerous, people would be more affected by the personal risk (smoking) than the general risk (exposure to the dynamite).
The video also mentions the availability heuristic, a cognitive bias where people think something is more likely because it has happened recently or there are more examples of it happening available in our memories. This bias can lead to over-exaggeration of risks we don't have control over, while being comparatively fearless in the face of equal risks we can control.
Chauncey Starr's famous 1969 study on risk found that people were willing to accept risks 1000 times greater if they could control them. For instance, people would be more willing to accept a 1000 times greater risk of death from driving a car if they could control it, compared to a nuclear disaster where they have no control.
The video also discusses the concept of micromorts, a measure of risk equal to a 1 in 1 million probability of dying. A single skydive, for example, temporarily increases your death risk by 7 micromorts, which is the same as smoking 5 cigarettes.
The video ends with a discussion on the concept of micro life, a unit of risk proposed by David Spiegel Halter and Alejandro Oliva. A micro life is gained by doing healthful things in small quantities, and two hours of moderate exercise gives you 2 more micro-lives.
The video concludes with the point that every single person who ever died died right here on planet Earth, except for the crew of Soyuz 11, who died in a spacecraft. The video encourages viewers to stay safe and ends with a melancholic note about the remoteness of the crew's deaths.
1. The video is a Vsauce video hosted by Michael.
2. The video discusses the concept of the average viewer's life span, calculated by combining world health organization life tables with YouTube analytics.
3. The average date calculated for viewers over the age of 15 watching the video is 8:40 2:00 in the morning on November 28, 2015.
4. The mode (most common) date is in 2073, but this is considered morbidly unrealistic.
5. The average person overestimates the likelihood that bad things will happen to others and underestimates the likelihood that they will happen to them.
6. Studies have consistently shown that the average person believes they will live a longer and healthier life than the average person.
7. The video also discusses the concept of risk perception and how we often overestimate risks we don't have control over.
8. The video mentions a meeting between some YouTube creators and President Obama about the decisions Americans make when it comes to protecting themselves from the cost of staying healthy.
9. The issue of health care in America is described as being mired in conflict and debate.
10. The video also mentions the concept of the availability heuristic, where we tend to think something is more likely because it happened recently or there are more examples of it happening available in our memories.
11. The video cites a 1969 study by Chauncey Starr, which found that people were willing to accept risks 1000 times greater if they could control them.
12. The video discusses the concept of survivorship bias and how it only pays attention to successes.
13. The video mentions a risk scoring system called "micromort," which is an amount of risk equal to a 1 in 1 million probability of dying.
14. The video also mentions the concept of "micro life," a proposed unit of risk where one micro life is gained by doing healthful things in small quantities.
15. The video concludes with a look at the concept of "birthdays" in terms of the life expectancy and habits of the viewer.