n. The generalized or 'folk' version of
Murphy's Law, fully named "
Finagle's Law of Dynamic
Negatives" and usually rendered "
Anything that can go wrong,
will". One variant favored among hackers is "
The perversity of
the Universe tends towards a maximum" (but see also
Hanlon's Razor). The label 'Finagle's Law' was popularized by SF author Larry Niven in several stories depicting a frontier culture of
asteroid miners; this 'Belter' culture professed a religion
and/or running joke involving the worship of the dread god Finagle
and his mad prophet Murphy.