When MIT Lets the Wind Decide
MIT sailing on the Charles River
There they were on the Charles River… little red sails carrying three very familiar letters:
MIT.
I couldn’t help smiling.
Somewhere behind those sails is an institution associated with equations, algorithms, engineering, artificial intelligence and people clever enough to understand things I have long ago accepted that I probably never will.
And yet, here they were.
In little boats.
Depending on the wind.
Looking at them brought back something my former Scottish boss once told me about sailing.
He said he could often tell where the wind was coming from by the hair on the back of his neck.
I remember being amused by that at the time.
But perhaps there was more wisdom in it than I realised.
You can have instruments, calculations, forecasts and sophisticated technology. But when you’re actually out there on the water, sometimes you still have to feel the wind.
And adjust your sail.
Sailing beneath the Boston skyline with Storrow Drive along the riverfront.
Perhaps life is a little like sailing.
We make our plans, calculate our course and imagine that we know where we’re headed.
And then the wind changes.
Maybe the trick isn’t to fight it or complain about it.
Maybe it’s simply to notice.
Feel which way the wind is blowing.
Adjust the sail.
Keep going.
Although, knowing MIT, I’m reasonably certain somebody on those boats could explain the mathematics.
I was quite happy just watching.
WORDSOUPS 