Lucky Streaks

The Behavioral Psychologists think lucky streaks are a myth. The “hot hand fallacy” is well discussed and measured and proven, I guess, to be “illusory.” It’s still fun though, even if it’s turned to MBA Spam. At least I know that NBA Jam and “he’s heating up” still has a special place in my heart. It’s nice to think somebody still gets to be “on fire” even if it’s just a story in a video game.

Jim O’Shaughnessy, in our Intentional Investor interview for Epsilon Theory, took a moment to discuss the wonder and awe of being here today.

We joked about how lucky a person would have to be, just to be here and now. The series of events. The series of people who didn’t die and passed on their genes. It’s way beyond the NBA Jam required 3 made shots in a row.

I quipped about all the kids who asked “why” 10 too many times and didn’t have parents who killed them off - they’re all of our ancestors, and maybe that explains a lot.

Jim took it farther, and took it back to the planet, to life itself, and the mystery of it all.

Maybe a little lucky streak doesn’t matter, but the big lucky streak is pretty inspiring when you stop and think of it.

Ps. The extremely crass joke I’m also laughing about is that it’s not all heads, but it is all tails, at least evolutionarily speaking. Childish, yes, but I’m not dead yet. Life’s too short not to laugh. It was good to spend this time with Jim. Especially talking grandparents. He didn’t know, but it was while my own grandfather was in the hospital and his talking about his relationship with his own grandfather and grandkids made me think a lot about the days that followed our recording.

Read about my Poppop here.

Read about my interview with Jim here, or watch it below: