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Famously commented on by Damon Runyan: > The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet.

DarkWiiPlayer 7y ago
But dressing up obvious statistical anomalies in fancy wording does seem to convince the careless reader that that it is indeed some very deep and meaningful thought. Too many wisdoms come down to this simple formula, but without ever drawing any real conclusion, or adding any real phylosophical value to what is, to the scientific mind a no-brainer.
- 99052882514569 7y ago
  You're being a little hard on the Bible.
- Psyladine 7y ago
  I bet you were always angry the hare didn't win when he is clearly much faster than the turtle.
  - dang 7y ago
    Could you please stop posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments to HN? You've been doing it a lot, and we ban accounts that do that. We have to, because we're trying for something different here—curious conversation—which those things either choke out or destroy. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - Psyladine 7y ago
      Denigrating aphorisms that have survived both millenia & civilizations 'obvious statistical anomalies in fancy wording' is to my eyes as baiting a comment as you could write...maybe I am out of tone with this community then. HN would do far better to ban viral spreading behaviors than to ban the fever, as snark is reactively to smarm. http://gawker.com/on-smarm-1476594977 http://gawker.com/on-smarm-1476594977
- overthemoon 7y ago
  Ecclesiastes is poetry. The point is that there's a lot of chance involved in one's fortunes in life, not that a fast person will win a race randomly.
- foldr 7y ago
  > There's nothing "fancy" about the wording in Ecclesiastes. It's plain and simple language that anyone can understand. (Many Bible translations use somewhat formal or old fashioned English, but that's an artifact of the translation.)
- downerending 7y ago
  It's worth noting that Ecclesiastes (or Qohelet or Qoheleth in the original Hebrew) was written well over 2000 years ago, by an anonymous author or set of authors (probably scribes?). Their understanding of statistics, science, math, etc., would have been pretty minimal. It is indeed quite amazing that the basic message holds up so well over the centuries. Once you start looking, a lot of other disparate sources of wisdom line up with it pretty well. Taoism and Buddhism surely. Kansas' "Dust in the Wind"? Paul Simon's "Slip Sliding Away"? Ecclesiastes, too, whether inspired directly or not. Also quite amazing that this rather pessimistic/nihilistic/quietist message made it into the Bible. If you want to read a modern (though imperfect) paraphrase, highly recommend this one by Adam S. Miller as a start: https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-New-Under-Sun-Ecclesiastes-ebook/dp/B01EPMUC9M/ref=sr_1_47?keywords=ecclesiastes&qid=1579206720&sr=8-47 https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-New-Under-Sun-Ecclesiastes-eb...

DarkWiiPlayer 7y ago

But dressing up obvious statistical anomalies in fancy wording does seem to convince the careless reader that that it is indeed some very deep and meaningful thought. Too many wisdoms come down to this simple formula, but without ever drawing any real conclusion, or adding any real phylosophical value to what is, to the scientific mind a no-brainer.

99052882514569 7y ago
You're being a little hard on the Bible.
Psyladine 7y ago
I bet you were always angry the hare didn't win when he is clearly much faster than the turtle.
- dang 7y ago
  Could you please stop posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments to HN? You've been doing it a lot, and we ban accounts that do that. We have to, because we're trying for something different here—curious conversation—which those things either choke out or destroy. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - Psyladine 7y ago
    Denigrating aphorisms that have survived both millenia & civilizations 'obvious statistical anomalies in fancy wording' is to my eyes as baiting a comment as you could write...maybe I am out of tone with this community then. HN would do far better to ban viral spreading behaviors than to ban the fever, as snark is reactively to smarm. http://gawker.com/on-smarm-1476594977 http://gawker.com/on-smarm-1476594977
overthemoon 7y ago
Ecclesiastes is poetry. The point is that there's a lot of chance involved in one's fortunes in life, not that a fast person will win a race randomly.
foldr 7y ago
> There's nothing "fancy" about the wording in Ecclesiastes. It's plain and simple language that anyone can understand. (Many Bible translations use somewhat formal or old fashioned English, but that's an artifact of the translation.)
downerending 7y ago
It's worth noting that Ecclesiastes (or Qohelet or Qoheleth in the original Hebrew) was written well over 2000 years ago, by an anonymous author or set of authors (probably scribes?). Their understanding of statistics, science, math, etc., would have been pretty minimal. It is indeed quite amazing that the basic message holds up so well over the centuries. Once you start looking, a lot of other disparate sources of wisdom line up with it pretty well. Taoism and Buddhism surely. Kansas' "Dust in the Wind"? Paul Simon's "Slip Sliding Away"? Ecclesiastes, too, whether inspired directly or not. Also quite amazing that this rather pessimistic/nihilistic/quietist message made it into the Bible. If you want to read a modern (though imperfect) paraphrase, highly recommend this one by Adam S. Miller as a start: https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-New-Under-Sun-Ecclesiastes-ebook/dp/B01EPMUC9M/ref=sr_1_47?keywords=ecclesiastes&qid=1579206720&sr=8-47 https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-New-Under-Sun-Ecclesiastes-eb...