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The Odds of The End: Scientific Betting Practices

The Weird and Wacky World of Improbable Realities

The Odds of The End: Scientific Betting Practices

The great fiction writers of our yesteryear conjured up amazing stories of science fiction. Tales of giant killer ants, devastating alien attacks, and zombie apocalypses were common themes with creative minds. In the 1980s, there was fear and dread that the great Nostradamus’ predictions would come true and the earth would be consumed in a raging inferno of molten lava and rampant mayhem. Other soothsayers have had their hour upon the stage, and yet mankind remains impervious to the assaults of otherworldly marauders… for now at least. Hollywood production studios play to our fears and phobias with existential stories such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, Deep Impact, Armageddon, Independence Day, World War Z, and other modern-day marvels. What plays out on the big screen has yet to translate into reality, but every possible scenario is being considered.

What are the odds of humans being turned into a bunch of bloodthirsty zombies? The concept itself is bizarre. Of course, humans could never become zombies, could they? Truth be told the zombie concept is not too far removed from reality. In much the same fashion as rabies transforms animals into crazed, dazed and ferocious creatures, a zombie-like virus could easily mimic the Hollywood rendition of a zombie apocalypse. While the dead don’t breathe, walk or terrorize the living in that way, the absence of mental acuity, faculties and awareness could certainly transform huge numbers of seemingly normal individuals into a zombie army. The odds of that happening are currently 1 in 1000 – spectacular by any stretch of the imagination.

How possible is the seemingly impossible?

The Odds of The End: Scientific Betting Practices

As human beings, we are fixated with impossible situations becoming entirely possible. There are many instances of these events occurring, including the 2010 football showstopper between Angola and Mali. Mali was trailing 0-4 against Angola with just 11 minutes left on the clock. Bookies gave the African country odds of 1:1000 of making a comeback. By the end of the game, Mali found the back of the net 4 times and equalized to end the game 4-4. Some other odds that are equally startling are the possibility of human engineered monsters destroying humans, or mega monsters from outer space destroying everything in our path. If you think this is unlikely, consider that a comparable example of converting a £0.30 wager into a £500,000 accumulator was also given odds of one in 1.666,666 million. That bet came true, so who’s to say that giant monsters from space (at odds of 1 in 159 million) won’t happen?

What Will Bring About Human Extinction?

The Odds of The End: Scientific Betting Practices

Doomsday forecasters have predicted a glut of possible scenarios that will bring about the end of the human race. Whether it’s aliens coming down to earth with ray guns to harvest our organs (odds of 1: 500) or superbugs such as bird flu wiping out the human population (odds of 1:2) the likelihood of these things occurring is pretty fantastic. Consider that a Flush Hand in poker has the same chance of occurring as aliens with superior technology coming to earth and wiping us all out.… fact or fiction? Did you know that scientists give the probability of sentient plants evolving and feeding off humans at 1:600? That’s about the same probability of a small asteroid hitting planet Earth by 2040. Perhaps you’ve heard of the ape uprising? This is where animals – apes – rise up against humans and destroy us with their superior intelligence and strength (1:4,600). There have been many Hollywood blockbusters such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and others that have highlighted precisely that. If you think these odds are improbable, consider that Leicester City won the Premier League in 2016 – the odds of that happening were 1:5,000.

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