What does it take to be a hero? and other questions from statistical mechanics.

1 We only hear about the survivors In the classic Star Trek episode Errand of Mercy, Spock computes the chance of success: CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK : What would you say the odds are on our getting out of here? MR. SPOCK : Difficult to be precise, Captain. I should say, approximately 7,824.7 to 1. And yet they get out of there. Are Spock’s probability computations unreliable? Think of it another way.…