"George O. Smith - The Fourth 'R'" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith George O)

calculated?тАЭ
His father laughed. тАЬIn fine, it can't. Too much depends
upon the personality of the individual.тАЭ
тАЬSeems to me,тАЭ said Jimmy, тАЬthat there's not much
point in making a bid against a distribution of values known
to be superior. You couldn't hope to make it; Mother and
Uncle Paul had the cards.тАЭ
His father laughed again. тАЬAfter a few more courses in
higher mathematics, James, you'll begin to realize that some
of the highest mathematics is aimed at predicting the
unpredictable, or trying to lower the entropy of random
тАФ7тАФ
behaviorтАФтАЭ
Jimmy Holden's mother chuckled. тАЬNow explain
entropy,тАЭ she said. тАЬJames, what your father has been
failing to explain is really not subject to simple analysis.
Who knows why any man will hazard his hard-earned
money on the orientation of a pair of dice? No amount of
education nor academic study will explain what drives a
man. Deep inside, I suppose it is the same force that drives
everybody. One man with four spades will take a chance to
see if he can make five, and another man with directorships
in three corporations will strive to make it four.тАЭ
Jimmy's father chuckled. тАЬSome families with one infant
will try to make it twoтАФтАЭ
тАЬNot on your life!тАЭ
тАЬтАФAnd some others are satisfied with what they've
got,тАЭ finished Jimmy Holden's father. тАЬJames, some men
will avoid seeing what has to be done; some men will see it
and do it and do no more; and a few men will see what has
тАФ8тАФ
to be done, do it, and then look to the next inevitable
problem created by their own actтАФтАЭ
A blinding flash of light cut a swath across the road,
dazzling them. Around the curve ahead, a car careened
wide over the white line. His mother reached for him, his
father fought the wheel to avoid the crash. Jimmy Holden
both heard and felt the sharp Bang! as the right front tire
went. The steering wheel snapped through his father's hands
by half a turn. There was a splintering crash as the car
shattered its way through the retaining fence, then came a
fleeting moment of breathless silence as if the entire
universe had stopped still for a heartbeat.
Chaos! His mother's automatic scream, his father's oath,
and the rending crash split the silence at once. The car
bucked and flipped, the doors were slammed open and
ripped off against a tree that went down. The car leaped in a
skew turn and began to roll and roll, shedding metal and
humans as it racketed down the ravine.
тАФ9тАФ