TOW: Murphy's Law

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Why is it that every time I try to do something properly I screw up not just a little bit, but frankly, I screw up fantastically???" Like today when I zipped up my backpack in a lazy way, and it opened without me noticing, and a really nice pair of sports socks fell out of it. You, my friend, are being subjected to Murphy's Law. And yes, it sucks. Big time.

Murphy's Law states, "If anything can go wrong it will." This was named after Capt. Edward Murphy (or some unnamed physicist, if you believe Wikipedia.) who actually said that "If there are two ways of doing something, and one of them results in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." Murphy was later misquoted, and eventually his original statement turned into "If anything can go wrong, it will." Well, this statement holds true for Murphy's Law, apparently. Nothing like making a really interesting statement, and then being misquoted as something completely different.

The beauty of Murphy's Law, is that it expresses, very well, the general feeling of frustration all of us have when we make mistakes. Because usually the first mistake we make is always the biggest. Or most embarassing. Now, when this happens on a larger scale, like with engineering, this is a huge issue, but when it happens in our own lives, it's just as depressing.

In philosophy terms, Murphy's Law is not the same as fortune/fate. It's not 'Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down." Murphy's Law is commenting on the fact that human error causes human problems. Big Problems. Like, remember that time you thought it would be a good idea to get your cat to play with the pitbull next door? Or how standing next to the speakers at an ACDC concert was going to be be a good idea even after your ears started bleeding because you were having a good time? What about the purple mumu you're wearing?

The reason most people like Murphy's Law is that it says to us, "Hey, don't be stupid. Pay attention! Your actions have meaning!" It's a sign of affirming free will...in a really embarassing way.

Like how I forgot to zip up my back-pack. Dang it!