I'm Angie Duckworth.
Dammit.
I'm Angela Duckworth.
I'm Steven Dubner, and you're listening to.
No stupid questions today on the show.
How do hope and optimism affect long shots?
We'll call it hoptimism.
Or what would the other thing be?
Ope.
Angela?
Steven, I have a question for you.
Today that's not quite a riddle, but it is a question without an obvious answer.
And furthermore, a question of which the correct answering thereof is not the point.
Is that clear so far?
Clear as mud, Steven.
Here's the question, though.
What do the following activities have in common?
Angela?
A, throwing a deep pass in football, b, casting your fishing line into a lake, and c sending, let's say, a particularly ambitious email to someone you don't know.
Low probability of success.