Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

The comic is titled "This Is Why People Should Learn Statistics" and contrasts two scenarios to highlight how badly humans assess risk. In the first panel, a man passionately declares that "we must take any action and pay any cost to limit the risk of a terrorist attack!" In the second panel, labeled "Later...", the same man is at a car dealership and declines added safety features because they're "too expensive."

The joke hinges on a well-documented cognitive bias: people massively overestimate the danger of dramatic, rare events like terrorist attacks while underestimating the risk of mundane but far more lethal threats like car accidents. Statistically, the odds of dying in a car crash are vastly higher than dying in a terrorist attack, yet the emotional salience of terrorism drives disproportionate fear and spending. The man is willing to pay "any cost" for the statistically tiny risk but won't spend a dime on the statistically significant one. This is a classic SMBC theme -- using humor to illustrate how irrational human risk assessment can be, and making the case that basic statistical literacy would help people allocate their worry (and their money) more sensibly.