Today somebody was talking about their grandfather. He drank like a fish, yet lived to a ripe old age. “He was always proud of his liver,” they said. “No matter how much he drank, his liver was always incredibly healthy.”
The conversation then turned to their grandmother. “Smoked every day for many years, but still perfectly healthy at eighty.”
It seemed like a theme was developing. I hated to burst their bubble, but I felt I had to speak up. “Unfortunately,” I said, “that’s not how statistics works.”