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crickey | 2 years ago

Survivor bias, those who are happy enough not to off themselves in one given way or another will scew the statistics

discuss

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mensetmanusman|2 years ago

It’s more a radius of curvature effect. People are born with sharp personalities and views on how the world should be.

Eventually, you run up against the weathering affects of reality, your sharp edges smooth to a gentler polish, and you become far more stable and content.

pg_1234|2 years ago

Actually people are born with no expectations.

They are raised to believe in "one right way".

Over time they learn it is just one of many, and much of the "value system" they were raised on is bullshit.

If they move past this, they can focus on enjoying the rest of their lives.

lapcat|2 years ago

The suicide rate is not that high. Fewer than 50k last year in the US, an all-time high, from a population of 330M.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/cdc-data-finds-...

tmnvix|2 years ago

Some bad/rough maths:

50k / 330M * 70 = 0.01.

50k from 330M per year assuming a 70 year average lifespan would mean 1% of the population dies by suicide. Not insignificant.

theGnuMe|2 years ago

I suggest you take a second look at that article you reference. They haven't calculated the rate for this year so you have no evidence for your claim.

Straight from the article:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which posted the numbers, has not yet calculated a suicide rate for the year, but available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II.

southernplaces7|2 years ago

Since the vast majority of people don't "off themselves" at any given age, with being past middle age included, that's one hell of a broad survivor bias you're talking about. Even among the most absolutely suicide-prone age cohort in the U.S.A, (those 45 to 54) the rate is no higher than 20 per 100,000. Like I said, survivor bias where the survivors represent 99.995% of the group?

sowbug|2 years ago

I'm not sure survivorship bias applies when the topic of discussion is, literally, all people who have survived beyond a certain age. How else are we to make age-based observations?