Terrifying Flashes of Randomness
On the Strange Tragedies of Mike Lynch and Steve Chamberlain.
The almost universal search for security and safety among human beings (although there are outliers who routinely court risk because they find security stifling) seemed something of a hopeless prospect this week after an outbreak of what I think of as toxic randomness.
The sad death of multi millionaire tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch on his luxury yacht last week was out of the blue enough to shake anyone’s conviction that life can be kept under control. Add to that the almost simultaneous death in a road traffic accident of Mike Lynch’s exonerated co-defendent in hes recent fraud trial, Steve Chamberlain, and Macbeth’s suggestion that life is a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing, seems irresistible. Furthermore, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the fact that the five-time Olympian Daniela Larreal Chirinos, presumably a super fit athlete, was found dead last week inside her Las Vegas apartment after the retired cyclist choked to death on her food. It felt like a hurricane of precarity was building.
Randomness is ever present, but we like to keep it at the back of our minds. We think if we get enough money, buy enough insurance, eat the right food and exercise enough, we’ll get through the experience of being human reasonably well. And we probably will - at least statistically. But statistics do not protect you when you are hit in your luxury yacht by a massive unexpected water spout in a sea that was calm but a short time ago.
Our assumption that life is basically safe and predictable is a luxury enjoyed by those at a certain income level living in developed, peaceful, largely Western societies. If you happen to be a resident of Gaza or Kursk, you will be under no such illusion.
For us more fortunate ones, it all the same turns out there is no foolproof method of removing hazard from our lives. Even if we are very rich or super healthy, the vagaries of fate can get to us. Can we just accept this and still have peace of mind?
