Well pardon me for the borrowed title from the famous Ayn Rand but i could not find any other title worth the meaning. This piece is a tribute to the bizzare and the bazar. This is in continuation of my search for an answer, to be very honest many of them. To seek answers, let me begin with the questions.
Are we living on two planets?
I am serious. There must be two of them. One, on which I live and the other, We are convinced that we live. More deterministic and full of certitude. Past events are always explained as if they understood them completely, worse is that they assume to know their reasons and backfit some stupid logic also, concocted, ex posted by their deluded minds. This is something called 'Hindsight bias'. Where in I am always struggling with my intellectual insecurity. I am always calming down my skeptical mind , always questioning but people talk with certainity of their ideas and knowledge , it makes me feel a beast out of mars.
I am convinced we are living on two planets.
What about the results?
Well what about them? Reality is far more vicious than any game you have played. Its thousand barrel gun hits you hits you too infrequently. You tend to watch it for 10/20 shots may be and then you just forget that it can hit you too, That there is a bullet lying somewhere in the chamber. This is the 'Black swan' Taleb is talking about I guess. So that's why there is this chance of Luck sneaking in. Tough luck my friend.
Quality of decision can not rather should not be judged solely by the result at the end. It should be judged by the alternative cost principle. I mean, what else i could have been. Normally the people would say that I made the best decision and that's why i am successful. generally these are sentences associated with loosers, (You can hear the politicians say that).
In the end I would just say that you can always choose a different past too the way you choose a future.
and yes results are no guarantee of someone being intelligent , it's just Russian roulette being played out with life holding the 1 million barrel gun.