Leonard Mlodinow 454 words, 19K views, 20 comments
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On Jan 2, 2012PK wrote :
Most of my life, i have experienced serendipidy -- I prefer to call seeming randomness this way. i do plan many different things meticulously -- only to see them fall apart and something else magically come alive and take me in a random direction. it always worked out.
in 1980, I had an accident in my laboratory while i was doing my ph.d. and that added 18 months to my graduation. It also meant, the opportunity to work with a double Noble Laureate was gone and after waiting for other opportunities for several months, I decided to accept a job in an Indian company and moved to a remote place in Assam. 20 minutes after I left for the train station, a telegram came from US offering me a position in Salt Lake City. The kind postman who also delivered the telegram, knew what telegram meant and put that in the mail. After 24 days, the telegram reaches me in Assam and I am in US for a post-doc position in a random place.
Then again in 1982, I applied for 172 jobs and because of recession, I could not get even one. I had conflicts with my professor and was ready to return to India. In a random party, i come across another person who recommended me to meet his colleague and before I knew, I had a job offer in my back yard that led me to change my India plans again and stay back.
Samething with Apple job, same thing with quitting that job and on and on...
I call that Randomness that rules our lives -- magic, Grace or God!
On Jan 2, 2012 PK wrote :
Most of my life, i have experienced serendipidy -- I prefer to call seeming randomness this way. i do plan many different things meticulously -- only to see them fall apart and something else magically come alive and take me in a random direction. it always worked out.
in 1980, I had an accident in my laboratory while i was doing my ph.d. and that added 18 months to my graduation. It also meant, the opportunity to work with a double Noble Laureate was gone and after waiting for other opportunities for several months, I decided to accept a job in an Indian company and moved to a remote place in Assam. 20 minutes after I left for the train station, a telegram came from US offering me a position in Salt Lake City. The kind postman who also delivered the telegram, knew what telegram meant and put that in the mail. After 24 days, the telegram reaches me in Assam and I am in US for a post-doc position in a random place.
Then again in 1982, I applied for 172 jobs and because of recession, I could not get even one. I had conflicts with my professor and was ready to return to India. In a random party, i come across another person who recommended me to meet his colleague and before I knew, I had a job offer in my back yard that led me to change my India plans again and stay back.
Samething with Apple job, same thing with quitting that job and on and on...
I call that Randomness that rules our lives -- magic, Grace or God!