Winning the Lottery of Life

If you give an infinite number of chimpanzees an infinite number of laptops and printers with an infinite amount of paper and ink, one of two things will result. Mathematically speaking, one of those monkeys could ultimately and inadvertently type and print the complete works of William Shakespeare. Of course, mathematically speaking, it is infinitely more likely that the result would be a lot of broken laptops and printers and a universe of wasted paper. Sure, such a proposition is implausible, but when you are dealing with an infinite number of possibilities, even a monkey will eventually come up with something amazing.

Such is the fundamental basis behind all lotteries, and gambling in general. Given an infinite number of possible chances, sooner or later someone is going to win. And someone usually does, except the chances that it will be you are not very good. We humans have a crazy passion for gambling. It doesn't even matter what the wager is. And people will lay down good money on the odd chance of winning something absolutely worthless, all for the chance to win something for nothing. Billions of dollars cross the counter every year for lotteries, raffles, casinos, sporting events, and on and on, when the known odds against winning are astronomical. Every time you plunk down a bet you have to admit that chances are generally better that you will get struck by lightning on a sunny day.

We gamble because we are, as a species, eternal optimists. We have evolved to be the successful species that we are BECAUSE we are risk takers. We like to believe that "today may be our lucky day". It's worth the risk. 

Our propensity to take a chance is not all bad. On the one hand we readily disregard the laws of mathematics to throw down good money against near hopeless odds; on the other, we gamble sometimes with our fortunes or lives to fulfill our wildest dreams. The frontier has always been discovered, settled, and shaped by gamblers - men and women willing to risk all for the fulfillment of some crazy dream. We all owe a considerable amount to the gamblers that stepped away from their comfort zone to chase some wild ambition that changed the world. Where would we be without the likes of Christopher Columbus, Benjamin Franklin, Neil Armtrong, or Joan of Arc?

I volunteered to be a Marine during the war in Viet Nam. A lot of guys didn't come home from that, but I was not one of them. I went on to risk huge amounts of capital, time, and energy in business venture after business venture with the upside potential of considerable financial benefit always overshadowing the ever present reality of financial disaster. It was all very exciting playing the game to win or lose. Now, much of the theater of life has passed me by. Life drips more slowly upon the page. I don't play lotteries and visiting casinos doesn't entertain my natural lust for risk taking. 

Instead, I take risks for rewards that others might think are worthless at best and sheer crazy. I'll pay $250 to run one hundred miles through dangerously bad weather and impossible terrain just to come home with a new t-shirt and a shiny belt buckle that I'll never wear. I climb mountains just to take in the view from the top, often at considerable risk of dying on the way climbing up, and sometimes I drive my car like I am racing in Monte Carlo just for a good rush of adrenaline. 

It is exciting to go to the edge and do the things that others say is impossible or foolish. In many ways I am that chimpanzee with a laptop. Given enough time there really are no limits to what can be accomplished. Given enough freedom and time, and plenty of paper, get out of my way to let me monkey around in defiance of the mathematical certainty behind it all.