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Winning the inverted lottery

loy22.blogspot.com

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Re: Winning the inverted lottery

#2

Post by wallflower »

This is not as harrowing as the story referenced, and I have a memory of playing with a childhood friend around age 9 with an Erector set. For some reason, we decided to connect the metal parts (don't remember if there was a motor attached) to a nightlight (we moved the bulb). There was a spark and the house went dark. I quickly said goodbye to my friend's parents and learned the next day that we had managed to make the entire suburban block go dark. The teachers at our school heard about it. To be honest, I felt it gave me some sort of notoriety.

But in retrospect it was a really stupid WTF episode. I think my parents didn't let me play with him much afterwards. I should try to look him up on Facebook. He probably won't remember or will claim not to remember. Stupid childhood mistakes that you survive. Memory is a good thing because it can be over-written.

Re: Winning the inverted lottery

#4

Post by T_S_ »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #3

I had a friend who actually managed to burn down his parents home as a kid. They ended up moving cities, so I suppose if his original street is ever targeted in a nuclear explosion he can claim the inverted lottery!

I know someone who did that too. Now he is a drive time dj on a funny morning radio show. He lists that accomplishment in his bio on the station's website. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons!

Re: Winning the inverted lottery

#6

Post by Confusion »

Eliezer wrote: post #5

I think this was just luck, actually. Let's see him do it again.

I doubt it was luck: I rather think it's a completely normal way of affairs. At the moment of discovery, the gas concentration was probably far too low for an explosion. If the house was decently ventilated, the gas concentration may never have reached a sufficient concentration for an explosion. If the house wasn't decently ventilated, someone probably would have woken up from the smell. Gas leaks have a pretty large window for discovery, which is why gas leaks rarely cause explosions. The fact that he was mucking around with the electricity right before it is a coincidence, but it's also something bound to have happened in one of the many gasleaks that happen.

Re: Winning the inverted lottery

#7

Post by joejohnson »

Every day we win the inverted lottery. We just don't notice them all the time. There are an infinite number of ways to die at any given moment, and an infinite number of moments in any finite amount. So, living successfully through a finite period of time is effectively winning the inverted lottery an innumerable number of times.

This happens to us all daily. However, we tend to remember the times where, like in this story, the nearly-avoided death is more obvious.

Re: Winning the inverted lottery

#8

Post by aymeric »

wallflower wrote: post #2

This is not as harrowing as the story referenced, and I have a memory of playing with a childhood friend around age 9 with an Erector set. For some reason, we decided to connect the metal parts (don't remember if there was a motor attached) to a nightlight (we moved the bulb). There was a spark and the house went dark. I quickly said goodbye to my friend's parents and learned the next day that we had managed to make…

He is maybe the author of the blog post :)

Re: Winning the inverted lottery

#10

Post by yason »

joejohnson wrote: post #7

Every day we win the inverted lottery. We just don't notice them all the time. There are an infinite number of ways to die at any given moment, and an infinite number of moments in any finite amount. So, living successfully through a finite period of time is effectively winning the inverted lottery an innumerable number of times. This happens to us all daily. However, we tend to remember the times where, like in this…

This is my conclusion, too.

Accidents are almost always something very silly, stupid, and something that could just happen to anyone. It only takes a single rock in a slightly wrong position, then your ankle will slip and you fall directly against a lamp post, hit your head, and you're dead.

It is interesting that people don't so much wonder "why did it not happen to me?"—until something happens, and it is then when they're much into wondering "why did it happen to me?".

Basically you need a breath a few times a minute and getting one is largely out of your own hands. And the countless possibilities to get involved in accidents just makes it very easy to build trust in the universe, if you think about it. Nervous about your startup? You'll be just fine, because there are countless of "smaller" things in your life that could fall down before that. And mostly even they don't.

And then again, most people go long stretches without anything happening. I feel that thinking about what will keep them without accidents and what will keep others cracking their heads inevitably leads, and narrows down, to the question of what is your theology.

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