risks worth taking

Top 3 things (in reverse order) that would have never happened without someone, somewhere taking a risk without being able to calculate the probability of success:

3. Penicillin - Alexander Fleming investigating mold after a scientific experiment of bacteria went wrong.

2. Civil Rights - Rosa Parks refusing to sit in a segregated bus seat leading to the Montgomery boycott which ultimately changed the law through the Supreme Court and started the Civil Rights movement.

1. Apollo 11 - In the height of the Cold War, NASA embarked on a mission to put a man on the moon. Against all odds and at huge risk, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon and became an icon of what is possible through space travel.

Risk isn't always a dirty word and some risks can't be calculated.