# The Last of My Vices Has Been Wrested From Me . . .

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-my-vices-has-been-wrested-from-me/182491>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 17, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-my-vices-has-been-wrested-from-me/182491 "2003-06-17T16:16:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-of-my-vices-has-been-wrested-from-me/182491/61 "2003-06-19T00:13:52Z")

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You know, it’s kind of ironic when a bum like me hears a person with a résumé like yours say that she only has one-and-one-half things to get out of bed for. It presents kind of an interesting take on the human condition: Maybe it really is okay to live in a fool’s paradise when someone who’s career I’d greatly envy (if I were that into film) can be as down as me, a guy who has blown or squandered every opportunity he’s ever had.

Anyway, I still suggest taking a look at Gigerenzer’s book. I mean, going to a no fat diet may cut your risk of heart disease in half, which sounds great. But that’s not a really informative fact. If four in one-thousand people in your risk group get heart disease when consuming fatty foods, then cutting out fatty foods would only improve your standing to a risk group where two in one-thousand get heart disease. That benefit may simply not be worth the pain of giving up food you love!

As a group, I don’t think doctors are generally known for their mathematical maturity, and the threat of lawsuits may make them risk averse. Your doctor may not be weighing _your_ risks and benefits. You’re best suited to do that. Gigerenzer goes through some elementary ways to put these risks into a language that is more natural for a human to understand, even a mathematically naive one, and help you make a more informed choice. Hell, you may choose to eat non-fat foods, but at least you’ll really understand why, and how it changes the risks you actually face.

Or, there’s always urban haiku.

_Blind taxi driver  
Roaring down the city streets  
Loves to run red lights._

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