I was over on Devon’s Blog posting a comment and brought up my belief that most things in life can be reduced to math. My wife Mel has a great saying from one of her Engineering Profs that I’ve modified:
Life is really Sociology
Sociology is really Biology
Biology is really Chemistry
Chemistry is really Physics
Physics is really Math
And Math is really hard.
An application of math I subconsciously use is my Rule of Risk. I used to call this my Rule of Permanency but it’s become more complicated.
Amount of Damage x Length of Time x Possibility = Risk Factor
You can apply this rule of thumb to nearly everything.
Driving a car? High damage (death), long length of time (you’re dead forever), very low possibility.
Road hockey? Low to moderate damage, typically low length of time, moderately low possibility.
Getting really drunk? Moderate damage (vomiting, hangover), moderately low length of time, possibility depends on just how “really drunk” you get.
Doing cocaine? High damage (absolute addiction and ruining your life to GET MORE), long length of time, possiblity I’m not sure but probably moderate and increasing with each use.
Most of this is done in peoples’ heads every day, without even thinking about it. Some people don’t think about it, and that’s a shame.
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