
Voltaire’s Luck - pepys
http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/luck/voltaires-luck
======
crystaln
Ethereum might have something to learn from the conclusion of the council
which tried to establish illegality: no rules had been broken, the lottery was
ill-devised. The winnings stand. Better luck next time.

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gohrt
Those who don't study Voltaire are condemned to repeat it:

[https://slice.mit.edu/2012/08/14/winning-the-
lottery/](https://slice.mit.edu/2012/08/14/winning-the-lottery/)

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caf
I would not have guessed that the idiom _" taken to the cleaners"_ dates back
at least to early 18th century French.

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Dirlewanger
Off-topic, and haven't read the article, but: oh my, what a marvelous site,
and to think it's under a decade old. I've only skimmed a few of the articles,
but this is an instant subscribe to print delivery for me. They must have a
sizeable endowment or something to be so new and to still have print editions.

~~~
engi_nerd
I highly recommend subscribing. I have no connection to Lapham's Quarterly
whatsoever. I am just a happy subscriber.

Each issue is themed. The article is from Summer 2016's LQ, with, as you'd
suspect, the theme of "Luck". Each issue opens with a long essay/rumination
from Lewis Lapham. He is a fabulous writer.

Then, you are given writings from throughout history, all centered around the
theme. The presentation is lively and interesting. You might see a piece from
a 17th century author juxtaposed with a photo from the 21st century. There
will usually be some beautiful infographics related to the theme.

I generally read through each issue with my commonplace book at hand so I can
transcribe interesting things I find within.

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inanutshellus
The tl;dr is that Voltaire, in league with other influential folk, would buy
all the tickets for various lotteries (at discounted prices), and therefore
guarantee themselves a win. They did this over and over through the years,
making themselves extremely rich.

Far less nefarious, but it reminds me of the guy that bought every jello
pudding cup in town in order to accrue millions of frequent flier miles...

[http://www.snopes.com/business/deals/pudding.asp](http://www.snopes.com/business/deals/pudding.asp)

~~~
dotsamuelswan
This tldr isn't very accurate. And the article isn't really that long. Worth
the 20-something paragraphs of time.

But, to offer a slightly better summary:

Voltaire earned ~ half a million livres over about a year after discovering a
broken lottery with a mathematician friend. The guy in charge of the lottery
was fired, and the lottery was cancelled.

Voltaire used that money for additional investments, substantially increasing
his wealth and allowing him to freely pursue his writing. The mathematician
used his winnings to fund scientific research and expeditions.

Directly from the article: "As he later observed, “If you want to make a
fortune in this country, it is enough to read the king’s orders-in-council.”
In other words, if you want to get lucky, read the small print."

~~~
seszett
> _a mathematician friend_

Said mathematician was Charles Marie de La Condamine, maybe he isn't too well
known abroad but the guy also discovered rubber (well, for the Occident of
course, the natives knew it already), a malaria treatment, and measured the
shape of the Earth (to confirm Newton's hypothesis that the poles would be
flattened) in a great expedition to Peru.

So he's a reasonably important 18th century man who wasn't only a
mathematician.

