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Comment by tvanantwerp | Hacker News Reader

Moments of whimsy are some of the most important. It was a moment of whimsy that led to me studying abroad in college, and another moment of whimsy that led me to meet my wife while I was there. Couldn't have been more than 5 total minutes of thoughts no more complicated than "yeah, I guess I'll give it a go" that shaped my entire life.

And yet, I can spend another 5 minutes in the grocery store agonizing over which of two near-identical bags of chips to buy. Funny how that goes.

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Check survivorship bias. The name refers to deadly scenarios, but what is fundamental to it is a bias in reporting that depends on the outcome of interest. The concept was first hammered out observing that warplanes never got hit in the engines -- well, the ones that made it back at least. Some people thought the areas with the most damage should be protected. Wald thought otherwise and it's him who is remembered to this day. "Moments of whimsy" are like anti-aircraft ammo. They hit everywhere, randomly. But we only report those that are associated with a life change.

I ultimately owe my software engineering career to wasting time posting on a phpBB for a webcomic.

Isn't that just confirmation bias though? If you hadn't made those decisions you just as likely could have met someone else some other way, married them and been just as happy or successful.

Yes, but it contrasts nicely with those "where do you see yourself in five years" interview questions. Life doesn't usually work like that.

Fredkin's paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredkin%27s_paradox

Moments of whimsy with a bit of perseverance. Without the second part, you're just a wildcard.

Maybe that's the point. Wildcards sometimes succeed just like that.

Indeed. For me that moment was a single split second where I decided to email my would-be wife. I almost didn’t, but decided to anyway. Of course, I have no idea how life may have played out had I not made that decision but here I am now, some thousands of miles away from my home country, from country I grew up in and in a new place I call home with a little kiddo that makes every day worth living. Funny how a single moment decided all of this.

Well, I met my wife on a train, in 2009. I was supposed to be on a plane, and she lost the previous train, and jumped in a random car in the train I was in, and there was me. Go figure :)

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