(November 30, 2009 at 6:59 am)Pope Alfred Wrote: Although I consider myself a strict rationalist, there is one universal quasi-religious belief which life has taught me to take seriously: Sod's Law, aka Murphy's Law: If anything can go wrong, it will.
The standard experiment to prove it is as follows - Drop a large number of slices of buttered toast onto an expensive carpet and an equal number onto a wipe-clean surface. Many more slices will land buttered-side down on the carpet, proving Sod's Law. If they don't, the experiment has failed, thus equally proving Sod's Law.
There are dozens of other formulations of this law; e.g. for electronics hobbyists: 'All component leads are 3mm too short.'
Do you believe in Sod's law, and what's your favourite version?
No, because it's not a law... It is far more correct to say "If anything can go wrong then there is a chance it will" but we can never guarantee anything, not even eventual failure.
.
