May 24, 2009

cultures of uncertainty

"If you want to succeed, double your failure rate" said Thomas Watson, an IBM pioneer.
"Hasard" and "azar" have the same etymology, the Arabic word for dice. The first is french and means "chance", with no implication of value, while the second is portuguese and means "bad luck".
Does expecting something has an impact on the probability of its happening?
If your brain can influence it (a cancer or a kiss) I'd say yes. If it can't, (winning the jack-pot or being run over by a car) no.
But then, French was my mother-tongue.

1 comment:

  1. C'est drôle de dire "was my mother tongue" quand on est encore vivante!
    Mais je crois que je vois bien ce que tu veux dire!

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