Questioning Murphy's Law (Sod's Law, if You Prefer)

If you’re reading this blog, it’s safe to assume you are one of two people: one that needs to type into google ‘murphy’s law meaning’, or the one that doesn’t. I’m going to operate under the assumption that you fall into the former category and thereby will briefly describe the same, as well as some related concepts. But on the flip side, if you are already well-versed with the universe of Murphy’s law, Finagle’s law, and Sod’s law, you can jump to the next section, I won’t mind.

To keep it short and simple (much like me):

Murphy’s law: ‘if anything can go wrong, it will.’

Bleak, right? But considering its origin story (the one that’s the most popular at least) involving an American aerospace engineer – Edward Murphy (the star of the tale), a US Airforce Officer – Colonel John Stapp (who has many more labels attributed to his name, the coolest being ‘the fastest man on Earth’), and a technician who made a blunder (oops), the law points to a more positive and practical approach: make sure to remove the scope of things going wrong, and they won’t! It’s more a cautionary tale stressing efficiency and thoroughness than a proclamation of doomsday. But sadly, we have managed to turn it into a bumming statement regardless. Worry not, things only get sadder from here...

Finagle’s law: ‘If anything can go wrong, it will and in the most cataclysmic way possible.’

To be blunt about it, this law pretty much deems the damage inevitable. It’s anyone’s worst nightmare come true. While Murphy’s law puts the onus of preventing a failure in our hands, Finagle’s law snatches it away. Most horror films and superhero stories follow Finagle’s law...till they arrive at the point of the miraculous saving of the day. Take Avengers: Infinity War for example (yes I’m an MCU fan and spoilers alert), with every passing scene of the film, shit turns to worse, starting with Loki’s death and ending with, well, half the universe being wiped out, and along with it, some of our favorite superheroes! Remember, “I don’t want to go Mr. Stark.”? *cue unending streams of tears.*

But I digress.

The film is a great example of Finagle’s law, especially considering things in it really do get cataclysmic. And talking about the common ‘superheroes saved the day’ trope, Endgame gives us a big old dose of it, but as a standalone film, Infinity War serves my point. But then again, the sad part is that this law isn’t just a commentary on the fictional, but also the real. Which makes this less enthralling and more upsetting. But wait a sec, if you’re about to quit on me, let me tell you that this is where things get funny, i.e. f you’ve got a dark sense of humour – enter Sod’s law!

Sod’s law: ‘if something can go wrong, it will, at the worst time, and in the most ironical fashion possible; in a way that suggests fate is mocking you.’

For me, Sod’s law is the best out of the three as it leaves some scope for hilarity. Albeit not for the poor sod who must be suffering as a result of it, but for the people in the audience of it all. To describe the law with an example, I’ll quote one from my life.

To set the scene:

• I have a dog who is the apple of my family’s collective eye

• She has aged quite a bit – like fine wine, if I might add – because of which she needs assistance when going to the loo (read front yard or wherever most convenient to her)

• Her bathroom urges come unexpectedly, so much so that sometimes even she is taken aback by them

• And all this results in exhausting clean-up duties for the one tasked with the same

Now that you have all the context that’s needed, let me get into the story.

One fine evening

When my ‘to-do’ list was overflowing

With tasks both important and urgent,

My dear darling dog

Woke up from a blissful nap

To do her usual business.

Being the person tasked

With taking her for a stroll,

I quickly paused my work

– Point to be noted here:

It was the most unfortunate of moments –

And got tending to her needs.

She sniffed about the front yard,

Smelling things, old and new,

And I walked alongside;

Mind occupied,

Ignoring the breeze passing through –

In short, a dull dull companion.

She peed.

Hurray!

I waited.

(Number two had to be around the corner!)

She insisted on heading back.

So I helped her in.

One step,

Two steps,

And now she was inside the door.

As I turned to shut it,

Silently celebrating

My looming return to work,

(Lame!)

I felt a pungent smell

Enter my nose.

Before I turned around,

I knew what had happened,

My dear wicked dog

Had pooped all over the floor,

And it stank like hell!

(She can be naughty like that.)

She happily strolled off to sleep,

Comfortably empty-tummied,

And as for me?

Well to paint a picture:

Pick, Flush, Sanitize.

Clean, Scrub, Sanitize.

Fate certainly had come home

To mock me;

I was the poor sod in the story,

And my dog?

Fate’s devilish right hand.

(Don’t worry, she still got all the kisses and rubs the world has to offer!)

If you made it till here, I hope you laughed or managed a smile. I know this blog is turning out to be a bit of a damper. But hold off on clicking that wretched ‘X’ for a second. Because I’m done talking about the laws. It’s time for the questioning to start!

I chanced upon these laws quite some time back. Don’t recall how exactly, but I kept going back to this particular version of Murphy’s law: whatever can happen will happen. And yes, given enough time – or trials as per Mathematician Augustus De Morgan – that statement has legs. But the more I searched online, the more I realised how we all have a tendency to simply believe what we hear or read. Without giving much thought to the source or root of what's written or said.

We celebrate and applaud the accuracy of Murphy’s law but never once think why it is that accurate.

No, I’m not doubting the science behind its accuracy. I’ve spent long hours learning the rules of probability to know why the law applies: the chances of things going wrong far outweigh those of them going right. But my question is, why is the deck stacked so unfairly? Does the fault lie in us? Or is it a case of a fault in our stars?

Years ago when reading 1Q84 by Murakami, I came across a concept called Chekov’s Gun: if a gun is introduced at any point in a story, it must be fired by the end. The principle is simple, details matter and they should matter. Otherwise, what’s the point? (Umm...Suspense? Distraction? Deception? Trickery?)

While I don't agree with Chekov with respect to storytelling, the point still sticks.

Details matter – the exact sentiment shared by Murphy's law! It asks us to focus on all the finer details to excel at the grander game. But that's the hardest to do, isn't it? Because as the joke goes, pobody's nerfect!

And this gives us the first cause behind the success of Murphy's law: our own imperfection. (Ironical, right?). Our world is filled with flawed individuals, human error is a fact and nothing much can be done about it. Yes, we can fight it, try to lessen its extent, and maybe even nullify it a time or two, but we can't wipe it off the face of the planet. Because till we're here, human errors aren't going anywhere.

The same goes for chance, fate, or whatever you'd like to call it. The fact of the matter is, some things are just beyond our control! Things hold the potential to go wrong even in those rare cases when we manage to remove all human errors from the table. Because however hard we try to increase our significance in this universe, it has its way of showing us our place. And as any experimenter will tell you, the second you lose control, things are bound to go wrong.

Or are they?

When you think about it, some of our greatest findings or moments of revelations come when we lose control. When things 'go wrong'. So here, how do we go about classifying wrong and right?

If there are a total of 100 ways a situation can play out, we tag 99 of them as wrong, but only one as right. We’re dumb enough to categorize every scenario but one as a failure. No wonder Murphy’s law stands the test of time.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know in some cases things are just plain old wrong. Like a pet going missing. Losing a loved one. A government failing its people. But what I'm talking about lies in a more philosophical or existential landscape.

I know we all have grown up studying maths and science that are governed by rules and laws that are for the most part fixed. I know we all have been parts of communities that tell us only one way is the right way, rest all lead to the belly of the best. And I know we all have this idea of the perfect life traded to us by moneymakers in exchange for some control and a peek into our deepest thoughts.

But I truly believe, there exists a plane of possibility where these one-tone definitions cease to exist, allowing us to decide our own definitions of success and what’s right.

And it is here where I feel maybe we should pause our pursuit of that one right way and take a shot at expanding its scope instead!

So, while Murphy's law applies in a number of areas, I do feel in some others we can safely say the jury's still out.

What does that mean for us? Well, when we can ascertain the one right from the multiple wrongs, it means we do our best while taking steps to combat all the uncertainties that come to mind. Thereby trying to fix for both human errors and chance occurrences.

But in the situations where we can't be too sure of the right way ahead or when we can see multiple as being right, we again do our best, but also give both ourselves and our decisions some time to play out before announcing the verdict.

Because if my dog’s taught me anything, sometimes poop in the house can also mean 10 minutes away from the screen. And while that may not have been what I wanted at that moment, it’s a break that I can now agree I desperately needed.

P.S.: Since I’ve already admitted that I’m not perfect, if my definitions of the laws or interpretations don’t exactly fit yours, spare me in the name of Murphy!