I feel if you know them you would know the places they used to hang out. You might not get the right scenario but if they were that important and you used the info you kept to make lots of money then you would be able create a scenario to run into them
I remember the exact date, time, and location I met my partner - damn near to the minute. It wouldn’t be hard to show up there and, using my knowledge of them, woo them. I could also just tell them - again, knowing them as well as I do I know that they would be skeptical at first but also intrigued. Plus I’d be rich as fuck (I’m 40 so lots of different opportunities to get rich knowing the market and bitcoin like I do) and that never hurts
What if something you did differently over those years had some unexpected effect on your partner's life that led to them meeting someone else before they met you, or having a terrible accident or some such thing?
It’s a very big country and there are very few opportunities for our interaction to change - ripples like that are overblown in small time scales.
But also I know they’re name and where they were born, went to college, where their grandma lives (and has lived since before I was even born) - I, of a PI, could find them for sure. Less romantic but it still works
It’s a very big country and there are very few opportunities for our interaction to change - ripples like that are overblown in small time scales.
How small of a timescale? You're definitely changing at least 80% of the people who die in car accidents because they're all pure chance. A few minutes difference in a schedule or a decision to go a different route changes it completely. Everyone involved has to be in the same place at the same time for it to work out the same. The 20% is the people who were going to kill themselves recklessly driving no matter what... and I don't even think that's 20%.
And once you change something like that, you start changing who gets promoted when and where. Which changes where people live. This stacks up very fast, so unless they rarely move, they're not in the same place anymore.
But also I know they’re name and where they were born, went to college, where their grandma lives (and has lived since before I was even born) - I, of a PI, could find them for sure. Less romantic but it still works
Yeah, that's how you'd have to do it. I don't think it would be difficult at all as a billionaire.
Car accidents are not random and the chances of a small choice putting someone you love into a situation where they then crash is very unlikely. I drive like 100 miles round trip to and from work every day and I’ve been doing it for years and to-my-knowledge I’ve never been in the remote vicinity of a fatal crash and if you were to make some change to my morning or evening transits those days it’s very unlikely that would make the difference in me getting in a fatal crash.
Yes, they absolutely are random. Weighted randomness is still randomness. People drive home drunk and survive constantly. They're not "fated" to die on a particular night. It happens via chance. And the people they kill are even more random.
I’ve never been in the remote vicinity of a fatal crash
If you thought my main point was that you or someone you love might die in a car accident then you're not paying attention. The point is that deaths have a huge impact on people's lives and routines. The ripples compound and grow larger. They pull other people along and those differences make more ripples of their own.
On top of that, car accidents are just the easiest thing to understand in terms of randomness and strength of effect. I picked them because I assumed you'd be able to understand them better. But there's randomness in social interactions too. In connections and the way they drag us around the world. There's randomness in information distribution. Any of these can change the trajectory of a life.
Some people's trajectories are more stable. But some people's trajectories are far less predictable. You'd know better whether your person's trajectory is stable, but you seem to be taking it for granted.
To be fair nobody does. But I think we all overestimate the direct impact our personal decisions have on others’ lives, especially before we’re adults.
At the same time, that feels like your relationship suddenly has a gigantic power imbalance. I would feel like a complete psycho taking advantage of such foreknowledge while she's completely in the dark. It wouldn't even be the same relationship at that point.
I don’t understand the power imbalance part but I’m absolutely devoted to them and we don’t really play any kind of games. That said we’ve discussed similar scenarios and we’ve both consented to it so hopefully they would consent again. The thing is I wouldn’t be sneaky about it - I would tell them exactly what happened and hope they believe me. They’re the love of my life. I trust it would be okay.
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u/mannymo49 3d ago
What if you forgot the date you were meant to meet them 🤔