more scary stuff

     One of the scarier ideas I hear fairly often is that we don't need to study math anymore, because machines can do that. I would like to have a demonstration of this idea, provided by someone who has never studied any math.

the new gambling math

     Have you ever wondered why someone you know continues to gamble even though he or she seems to lose consistently? You might ask your friend about his or her math. Or accounting system. I have been told by a gambler that she won a couple of hundred dollars--this after losing several hundred. To her, only the winnings "count". The rest is gone with the wind. So while I figured that she lost about $400, she had it figured out that she won $200. Gamblers think this way about gambling all the time. Other people who repeatedly make life decisions that others would call self-destructive or self-defeating do the same--they only count the wins.

Suggestion--I'll ask you. Has anyone succeeded in persuading losing a losing gambler that he or she has, in fact, lost?