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Comment by ryanwaggoner | Hacker News Reader

"In contrast to what all the expert statisticians here have to say, I watched a guy on Youtube play Russian roulette and he was fine. I've played these kinds of "dangerous" games myself and it's always been fine. Ignore the experts, what could go wrong?"

There are all kinds of dangerous things in the world, and many can injure or kill you if you don't treat them carefully. I don't understand the callous disregard for safety concerns, nor the attacks on people with expertise and credentials in these areas, all in favor of some random guy you saw on Youtube who happened to survive and your own limited experience.

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If that's your interpretation then we fundamentally disagree.

"Random guy on Youtube" happened to be an intelligent and capable human being who learned all the relevant techniques and principles from available information without paying for "credentials".

Go watch the technique used for testing, evaluating, sorting, and re-using batteries used and tell me specifically what is unsafe rather than trying to spread fear because there's no college degree/certification/other form of economic gate keeping.

I'm not attacking people with credentials, only the type of people who vaguely threaten people not to twist 120VAC wires together in a wirenut unless they understand Maxwell's Equations.

People, in general, are terrible at effectively evaluating risks.

It's my impression that those that DO understand Maxwell's equations (or any other similar field-specific factors) often overlook just how fundamentally bad others are at factoring risks. The stupidity of those assuming "it won't happen to me" is likely nearly as great as the field experts expectations that "it most definitely WILL happen to YOU".

Hmmmm, wonder if there's a maxim or law for that?

Hopefully at least some of those dabbling at the fringes will at least become better educated about the risks when reading a wider range of perspectives on it.

Anyway, quite often the idiots double-down on their beliefs and the experts fail to realize they're beating a dead horse. Welcome to human discourse.

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