Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Scaevolus 496 days ago
Far too many people talk about security as if it's a simple binary and not about effort levels and dissuading attackers.
1 comments

People really struggle with things that have measurable, probabilistic effects. You see it with healthcare ("Steve smoked his whole life and never got cancer, so cigarettes aren't bad for you!"), environmental effects ("Alice was poor and she didn't rob anyone, so poverty is no excuse!"), hiring ("Charlie is a great employee and he had no experience, so you should never look at backgrounds!"), etc.

It should be a general standard of proof for any sort of sociological claim that you look at rates, not just examples, but it usually isn't.