Most skeptics are familiar with the notion of confirmation bias -- our tendency to take note of data that reinforces what we wish to believe and to ignore or forget data that doesn't -- and its role in fostering belief in various forms of prophecy and clairvoyance. That's only one of the factors that contribute to Hand's Improbability Principle, which is not a rule of its own, but rather "a consequence of a collection of more fundamental laws, which all tie together to lead inevitably and inexorably to the occurrence of such extraordinarily unlikely events.
