[jodrellblank]

By that calculation, no human should assume they are in the last 5% so the human race is immortal.

It sounds like nonsense; the people actually in the first 1% are not more special than the people in the 43rd 1%, but you have to be somewhere in the distribution.

No point is special in the sense that you have a stronger than usual reason to assume you aren't there and are more likely elsewhere.

[wbhart]

Not really. You shouldn't assume you are in the last 5%. Statistically, by definition, it is most likely (though not certain) that you are not.

[jodrellblank]

That's the sort of analysis I'm questioning - it's also 95% likely that I'm not in the second-last 5%, and the same for the third-last 5% and for any 5% slice.

How can we usefully reason anything from a start like that?