Comment by mrguyorama

The reason is gambling.

The vast majority of people don't want to take the bet of a tiny chance of doubling their lot in life for the downside risk of literally being tortured and dying and probably ruining the life of any loved ones.

Most people aren't degenerate gamblers.

The workaround is organization. With sufficient organization, you can start to drag the tiny chance to a slightly bigger chance, and slightly reduce the downside risk maybe.

Some parts of American society are absurdly bad at organizing, and basically gave up 60 years ago.