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The universe is a series of collapsed probabilities. What we call history is merely the thread that happened to hold — and we mistake the thread for the loom.
— Henri Poincaré, Science and Hypothesis (1902)

3d ago

It is a truth very certain that, when it is not in our power to determine what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable; and even if we cannot discover which of the alternatives is the more probable, we must nevertheless choose one of them.

4w ago

themarginalian.org

The Wildest Bet Is the Winning Bet

We place life's bets by countless calculations of probability, conscious and unconscious, only to discover over and over how short they fall of the wildest reaches of the possible, which always includes but exceeds the probable. It helps to remember that we ourselves are children of improbability, that everything we treasure exists not because it had to, not because it was likely or necessary, but because the universe took a gamble against the staggering odds otherwise.

3mo ago

Underscored — save the words that stop you in your tracks.

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