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How to Make
Murphy's Law
Work for You
by Mario Seiglie
You've probably heard of Murphy's
Law. It's the observation that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law
and its variations are the subject of books and calendars. We've heard Murphy's corollaries,
such as: If buttered toast falls to the floor, the probability that it will fall
butter-side down is in direct proportion to the cost of the rug.
Where did Murphy's Law originate? According to one book on the subject, this truism
was invented by U.S. Air Force captain Ed Murphy back in 1949. Capt. Murphy, who
tested airplanes, noticed that a technician kept making the same mistake when designing
one of the parts. Capt. Murphy reportedly said, "If there is any way to make things
go wrong, he will." As the story goes, this stated principle came to be called Murphy's
Law, and variations of his words have spread around the world.
Although this supposed law is usually not taken too seriously, some professionals
soberly espouse
the principle. Engineers, for example, have to
assume that things will go wrong. Mistakes in planes, bridges, buildings and the
like can be terribly costly both in money and lives lost, so engineers have to constantly
suppose that, if anything is left to chance, it will go wrong. In one tragic example,
after thorough investigations, officials found that the billion-dollar space shuttle
Challenger exploded on takeoff because of one relatively inexpensive part that did
not function properly.
Murphy' at work
Does Murphy's Law affect us in everyday life? Here are some variations on Murphy
that may sound familiar to you:
- If several things can go wrong, the one that does will do the most damage.
- If things are left to chance, they will tend to go from bad to worse.
- When things go well, something wrong is bound to happen.
- When tallying results, the figure that seems most obviously right and does not
need checking is the one that is wrong.
- Experimental results should be repeatable; they should all go wrong in the same
manner.
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