"The man who said 'I'd rather be lucky than good' saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to t

"The man who said 'I'd rather be lucky than good' saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose" -Woody Allen, Match Point (2005) I had one of those rare moments recently where I actually had an encounter with someone I considered to be an honest-to-God Genius. I won't go into the specifics. But it was at a public lecture. Elite research university. Auditorium packed with scientists of "Breakthrough" and "Nobel" calibre. And we were all "wow'ed"! Afterwards I got to chat a bit with the relatively young researcher who gave the lecture. And I asked her point blank how she knew to follow path X when everyone else was following Y? And she admitted it was sheer dumb luck! They had run out of the exotic material in the lab, and so she had to use its more common predecessor. Furthermore, all the elements had aligned to produce that infinitesimally improbable atomistic level perturbation at that very moment that led to her insights. Luck compounded upon luck. And at that moment, it was much like PG described. Obsession, coupled with absolute conviction. She could not let go of The Idea. What's most interesting is that this finding occurred mid-200s. And it was only now a decade and a half later, that the world was beginning to realize its fruits ;)