In 1997, Warren Buffett, the illustrious capitalist and multi-billionaire, planned a concept experiment.
“Imagine that it is 24 hours before you are going to be born,” he said, “and a genie comes to you.”
“The spirit says you'll verify the principles of the society you're close to enter and you'll style something you would like.
You get to design the social rules, the economic rules, the governmental rules. And those rules are going to prevail for your lifetime and your children's lifetime and your grandchildren's lifetime.”
“But there is a catch,” he said.
“You don't know whether you're going to be born rich or poor, male or female, infirm or able-bodied, in the United States or Afghanistan. All you know is that you get to take one ball out of a barrel with 5.8 billion balls in it. And that's you.”
“In other words,” Buffett continues, “you're going to participate in what I call the Ovarian Lottery. And that is the most important thing that's ever going to happen to you in your life.
It's planning to verify far more than what college you move to, how hard you work, all kinds of things.”
Buffett has long been a proponent for the role of luck in success. In his 2014 Annual Letter, he wrote, “Through dumb luck, [my business partner] Charlie and I were born in the United States, and we are forever grateful for the
staggering blessings this accident of birth has given America.”
When explained in this way, it seems hard to deny the importance of luck, randomness, and good fortune in life. And indeed, these factors play a critical role.
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