Greeting the New Year

Published on by alliehajian

What’s luck got to do, got to do with it?

I think a lot these days about luck. And randomness. When they are the same thing. When they are different. And then I happened upon this article…
Check it out! Look more closely...

The Race for the Covid Vaccine was more about Luck than Tech
This article is referring to the idea that the reason the vaccines in the US trials moved so quickly is because the rate of infection was/is so high here. That seems a bit more like irony than luck to me… Or maybe it’s another example of necessity being the foundation of invention. You be the judge.

It’s an interesting read. Side note: now do you consider yourself “lucky” to be in America in the time of Covid?

white-space

When I think about “luck” these days, I’m thinking random chance only appears to be random. My daughter is applying to a dozen colleges (literally) because she wants to be sure she’ll get in to one of the elite colleges she’s applying to. Since they all accept around or less than 10%, she’s probably applying to the right number. Getting into college today is sort of like a throw of the die. Getting accepted doesn’t mean it’s the right fit. Getting rejected doesn’t mean you wouldn’t succeed.

Getting into college is not really random

But it does seem a bit out of one’s control. And maybe that’s what we mean when we say something is “random.”

Racism isn’t random either

It occurs to me that systemic racism, which seems out of our control (now) is the opposite of random. It’s intentional. And maybe, just maybe, that means it’s within our control. Something to think about. But do read the article first.


Yes please! (take me to the rest of the newsletter)