Comments on: Steven Pinker Interview

By: nipsad

nipsad — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:44:28 +0000

Hard work versus luck; There is luck and there are odds. People that work hard might have increased odds of being set up for lucky opportunites. Writers that write everyday have increased odds of getting published. Sitting down next to an editor on an airplane might be luck, but being given the opportunity to succeeded arises with hard work. Is it possible that people that work hard don’t relaize how lucky they are? People that relize they are lucky feel they might not deserve the success.

By: Lewis Frumkes

Lewis Frumkes — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:35:31 +0000

Big questions. But whatever luck turns out to be you are correct that it is often not credited in success, though I have come across a few celebrities who openly acknowledge its role.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:56:42 +0000

Pinker’s right about people “making up stories” about how they got where they are. I’ve read books by successful people about their successes, and then I’ve read articles by journalists about those same people, and it’s a shock how often the successful people complete omit from their bios the shear dumb luck that contributed to their rise in the world. They want to put their successes down purely to hard work and talent. God forbid they should admit to luck being part of the equation.