Your story reminded me of a study in which students were more supportive of a safety measure that would save 85% of 150 lives than one that would save 150 lives. People commonly think in relative terms and may not be sure if 1 life or 150 lives is a lot. But 85% sounds like a lot. And 0.0001% surely doesn’t. As you correctly point out, though, these proportions don’t matter to the lives of the people being helped or saved.
Your story reminded me of a study in which students were more supportive of a safety measure that would save 85% of 150 lives than one that would save 150 lives. People commonly think in relative terms and may not be sure if 1 life or 150 lives is a lot. But 85% sounds like a lot. And 0.0001% surely doesn’t. As you correctly point out, though, these proportions don’t matter to the lives of the people being helped or saved.