The What-ifs of Coincidence
I recently finished listening to a novel (Vector by Robin Cook... yes, it's fiction, but it's based on real events that happened and extrapolates on what could happen...) in which all the pieces of the puzzle just seemed to fall into place. The book was a great, and I'll have a full review shortly in the Rants and Raves section for it; but the thing that I wanted to address here was just the way events seem to line up.
Conicidence is a curious thing. There are so many circumstances and situations that we are presented with which very often makes us all wonder what-f that wasn't what happened? What if you didn't accept that job and then you wouldn't have been in that city and then you wouldn't have met the person you're with and things would be completely different. Right? The different paths that our life can take based on the simple decisions we make everyday is indeed fascinating. Reminds me of those old Hardy Boys books that I used to read as a kid which allowed you to choose your own path to the ending (Make your own mystery?). I used to enjoy figuring out ways to read every possible scenario and combination! Even till today when I think of depth first searches and breadth first searches in trees, I always think of the mystery books since that's where I figure out how to traverse a path of a tree with multiple options.
The difference is that in those book, I could always go back and take the path that was previous not chosen and then see where that would lead. Unfortunately, we don't have that luxury in life though. In life we make that decision and then that's the one we have to go with. All we can do is simply wonder, what-if we had chosen a different path. (I've written previously about having no regrets, I still stand firm on that, but the what-ifs of coincidence are intriguing nonetheless). In the book, the male protagonist is able to piece together the cause of somemysterious deaths based on things as far-fetched as his colleague attending a conference on veterinary medicine and coming back and relating a story about a large number of rats having mysteriously perished in the sewers recently. Now, what if his colleague hadn't gone to the conference. Or even if he did, if he didn't come back and relate that particular story? Things would be different.
There are those among us who believe that there is no such thing as coincidence and everything is predestined and predetermined. I don't buy that crock one bit, but still cannot help wonder about co-incidence. What if I hadn't come to the US for my education.... would my entire outlook, my perspective and my weltanshaaung me completely different? Our environment has such a deep impact on how we develop and how we think. And the subtle experiences (and also the not-so-subtle ones for that matter) that shape how life progresses.
What if I didn't decide to graduate early? What if I didn't go to CMU for my grad work? What if the professor whose course I taught had not left for the valley? What if wasn't at the cave late that night when the person who showed up and chatted with me on my site said should start my own company and in the process gave me the entrpreneurial bug? What if I didn't meet the person who introduced me to my first financiers? What if the guy who became my best developer had already found a summer job before I got to him!? What if I didn't hire the people I did? What if I didn't send that email?
Just so many questions... each one the what-ifs of coincidence. Curious.
Before I end though, I do want to emphasize that I do not have any regrets about any of it.. None at all. Because I love the randomness. I love the fact that you cannot predict what will happen. And I wouldn't want to either. Because the surprise is what makes it interesting. It's what makes us adapt and develop.
Life is an improv.
Conicidence is a curious thing. There are so many circumstances and situations that we are presented with which very often makes us all wonder what-f that wasn't what happened? What if you didn't accept that job and then you wouldn't have been in that city and then you wouldn't have met the person you're with and things would be completely different. Right? The different paths that our life can take based on the simple decisions we make everyday is indeed fascinating. Reminds me of those old Hardy Boys books that I used to read as a kid which allowed you to choose your own path to the ending (Make your own mystery?). I used to enjoy figuring out ways to read every possible scenario and combination! Even till today when I think of depth first searches and breadth first searches in trees, I always think of the mystery books since that's where I figure out how to traverse a path of a tree with multiple options.
The difference is that in those book, I could always go back and take the path that was previous not chosen and then see where that would lead. Unfortunately, we don't have that luxury in life though. In life we make that decision and then that's the one we have to go with. All we can do is simply wonder, what-if we had chosen a different path. (I've written previously about having no regrets, I still stand firm on that, but the what-ifs of coincidence are intriguing nonetheless). In the book, the male protagonist is able to piece together the cause of somemysterious deaths based on things as far-fetched as his colleague attending a conference on veterinary medicine and coming back and relating a story about a large number of rats having mysteriously perished in the sewers recently. Now, what if his colleague hadn't gone to the conference. Or even if he did, if he didn't come back and relate that particular story? Things would be different.
There are those among us who believe that there is no such thing as coincidence and everything is predestined and predetermined. I don't buy that crock one bit, but still cannot help wonder about co-incidence. What if I hadn't come to the US for my education.... would my entire outlook, my perspective and my weltanshaaung me completely different? Our environment has such a deep impact on how we develop and how we think. And the subtle experiences (and also the not-so-subtle ones for that matter) that shape how life progresses.
What if I didn't decide to graduate early? What if I didn't go to CMU for my grad work? What if the professor whose course I taught had not left for the valley? What if wasn't at the cave late that night when the person who showed up and chatted with me on my site said should start my own company and in the process gave me the entrpreneurial bug? What if I didn't meet the person who introduced me to my first financiers? What if the guy who became my best developer had already found a summer job before I got to him!? What if I didn't hire the people I did? What if I didn't send that email?
Just so many questions... each one the what-ifs of coincidence. Curious.
Before I end though, I do want to emphasize that I do not have any regrets about any of it.. None at all. Because I love the randomness. I love the fact that you cannot predict what will happen. And I wouldn't want to either. Because the surprise is what makes it interesting. It's what makes us adapt and develop.
Life is an improv.
posted by sneaker @ 7:31 PM
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