Sometimes we worry about the consequences of our actions and what might happen if we did this, did that, or did nothing. Some of us get paralyzed by the fear of “what if” and end up doing nothing. Others just plow ahead without fear of the consequences. Imagine if we could know the consequences of all of our actions beforehand.
The first question becomes, what would be the consequences of even having one of those new-fangled “What If” machines?
Don’t know what a “What If” machine is? Don’t worry, it is still a mystical, magical, unreality. If it existed, it would simply be a machine that lets you view all time and space and ask, how different would things be if this or that happened instead of what actually happened or would happen? You could explore infinite possibilities.
It does not exist. But one has to wonder… what if we had one?
Back in the dark days before the internet (yes, that is dating me somewhat), when I had the luxury of a lot of time to read recreationally, I devoured a lot of science fiction. And I mean, a lot! When I went to the bookstore to explore for more reading material, I would buy my science fiction by size of the book rather than author or content. Heck, I would have bought books by the pound if they’d had a scale on the counter. Give me a trilogy with 600+ pages in each book and I would be in heaven. The point?
This opened my mind to a lot of possibilities - and impossibilities.
I think that stretching my mind with bulk quantities of the craziest sci-fi imaginable structured me to always wonder… what if? So, in light of our focus on unintended consequences, I finally get to explore… what if I had a “What If” machine?
But first… we might wonder if having one be a good thing? Or would it be a soul-destroying artifice from Hell?
Assuming that we cannot change the past… we have to consider if constantly looking back and asking what if would eventually drive us to madness? Imagine for a moment all the possibilities for good we missed and all the devastating disasters that could have been averted.
Would we be able to handle that god-like knowledge — not only of singular past events, but of the infinite what ifs attached to them? The branching limbs of the past would spread to an infinite umbrella of possibilities that would soon cover us in darkness and confusion.
Turning the other way, what if we could look to the future and ask, what if I did this instead of that? How easy it would be to become obsessive over the actions of every moment. Would we then spend our lives casting about, searching out the perfect path to a perfect future? Would we be nothing more than a sailboat searching for the perfect wind, but never actually arriving anywhere?
We might have wins and avoid loses along the way, but would we have lived our lives and experienced what it is to be human and imperfect?
Exploring with the “What If” machine.
Ignoring all the existential angst, let’s see if we can have some fun with our little machine of madness. Along the way, I’ll demonstrate that the “What If” machine is the ultimate proof of the power of Unintended Consequences.
Imagine all the possibilities of having one of these on your kitchen counter sitting right next to your toaster and coffee maker? Let’s pour a cup of coffee and start with a personal approach to our “What If” enquiries.
Stand back while I set a few dials, adjust the if/what parameters, wait for the Whatteriffer engine to warm up… and push the button.
QUESTION: What if I had NOT gone to that business event where I met my wife?
I was not a big fan of these types of events and had skipped many of them. I was thinking hard about skipping that one, but decided at the last minute to go. It was a simple decision that could have gone either way. What would be the consequences of deciding not to go?
I never would have met my wonderful wife and had our life together.
I never would have had the wonderful children I have.
Career? Life trajectory? Other marriages? Accidental death? Riches?
Every subsequent pathway I followed to bring me here to write this would have changed.
Some might say, if it was destined to be, I would have met my wife another way. That is a whole different world of discussions, but the circumstances of our lives made it highly unlikely we would have crossed paths or interacted again. Therefore, we have to assume that simple decision drove the trajectory of my entire life from that moment to this day.
You might ask, “But… couldn’t you have been just as happy in another life?”
I love my wife and children. It’s that simple. If the machine had shown me that not going would have resulted in an even more amazing life, vast fortunes, and more, would I even entertain giving up my family? Of course not! So, the real question becomes — would I want to know what my life would be without them? Would I find relief in having this knowledge? Or joy? Angst? Confusion? Regret? Helplessness?
What if one were to feel an overwhelming desire for the alternate life they saw. How would that affect their real-world relationships? Their marriage? Do you see how easily we could slip into a pit of confusion and self-doubt about our entire lives?
Maybe I won’t ask the machine that question.
The power of a moment, a glance, a breath.
Instead, let’s take a broader look at what if. Auto accidents and their level of severity are almost always about PERFECT TIMING. Glancing away at the wrong moment. Crossing paths at that exact second. Driving just a touch faster. Or a touch slower.
I am blessed that I have never been in a serious accident. Looking through the lens of our “What If” machine, am I just THAT good of a driver? Or lucky? Or is it just circumstance or odds? Is it the result of many small unintended consequences converging to my benefit? It is impossible to know without a real “What If” machine.
But let’s take a look at a few made-up scenarios anyway. They could all have happened easily enough. All it takes is timing and circumstance.
If I had been on time yesterday and not running 2 minutes late, might I have been crossing through the intersection at the exact same moment Robert ran that red light?
If Robert hadn’t spilled his coffee at just that exact moment, would he have run that red light and hit me (or someone else)?
If I hadn’t had that flat tire on the highway at 2:35 pm, might I have been involved in the semi-truck accident just down the road at 2:37 pm?
How many hundreds of accidents have I avoided through minor changes in how fast I walked, how fast or slow I drove, not stopping to use the restroom, dropping my computer bag, and on and on.
You get the idea. I would ask my “What If” machine, but I am afraid to find out how many times I skirted death by pausing to bend down and pat my dog on the head.
Conversely, what about all the people who did end up in serious accidents, some dying, because of those tiny changes in their day. What if Mary had stopped to take a drink from the water fountain before heading home. By pausing, she might have had to stop at a light she otherwise would have made, and her life never would have merged with that drunk driver two miles down the road going the wrong way.
Seconds make the difference. Problem is, we cannot know which seconds matter.
World War III and a yellow butterfly.
We could think bigger when using our shiny new countertop “What If” machine — now available in blue, green, and red. Let’s start with a cliché.
“What if Hitler had died as a teenager?” - Would Germany have taken a different path? Would another, more powerful country have risen to ultimately dominate the world? Or would peace have reigned supreme for hundreds of years? The “What If” machine could finally give us the answer, but we could do nothing about it.
“What if we had stopped 9/11 from happening?” - 3,000 people would have lived. That’s fantastic! However, because of 9/11, our country forever altered our approach to security to protect us from a world that was becoming more and more dangerous. If we didn’t put all of those resultant new protections in place, would something much more deadly have happened? Say, dirty bombs hand-carried into the hearts of New York, Chicago, and D.C.? Impossible to know without our little machine.
There are literally thousands of historical events that had a major impact on our world. We could do more of those, but where’s the fun in that?
Let’s try something a little different. How about a theoretical experiment using our imaginary machine to try and reverse engineer a hypothetical future event. Sounds like some valid and useful research to me.
Let’s ask our handy-dandy “What If” machine to give us one more adventure into “whatifism”. Time to go big and bold and explore the biggest thing we could make happen in the future with the tiniest change now.
HYPOTHESIS: What would be the smallest change we could make to bring about World War III?
After adjusting many dials and levers, the whatteriffer engine begins to hum, then smoke, then start smelling more like an overheated toaster full of stale crumbs than a fanciful machine.
So, after going to make some toast in the actual toaster, I come back to hear the “What If” machine lets loose with a sad whine and a step-by-step process to bring about World War III. (Which I would never do of course.) It went like this:
Go down to Main Street and kill the yellow butterfly that is hovering over the trashcan in front of Miller’s Old Kiln Restaurant. (Odd request, but okay.)
When Senator Bob Nobody drives down the street that morning, the butterfly does NOT get splattered broadly across his windshield (because I killed it earlier, remember?).
As a result, the Senator does NOT need to stop for a car wash to clear off the bug smear on the window from his wipers.
Perfect timing is now in play (see how all this comes together?) and he ends up in a horrific car crash that paralyzes him from the waist down.
Angry about his fate, he focuses on personal power and eventually becomes President of the United States.
Blaming the Chinese for the defective accident-avoidance chip in his car that resulted in his paralysis, he becomes obsessed with damaging the Chinese economy. This ultimately leads to the U.S. sinking a Chinese cargo ship that crossed an embargo line.
The Chinese respond, sinking a U.S. ship. The U.S. responds.
And World War III begins.
An absurd tale hopefully, but the premise is sound. Every action we take results in some form of reaction. That result may be so miniscule that the ripples never amount to anything noticeable. Or they may. We can never know in advance.
Maybe the yellow butterfly was just a yellow butterfly that would live its short life without consequence - alive or dead. Or maybe the yellow butterfly is the harbinger of death for millions around the world.
All I know is that the toast I made earlier was very good with a light smear of butter.
The consequences of knowledge.
So, yes, in a roundabout kind of way, we have proven the power of unintended consequences. Small actions, small events, moments in time, simple choices all have the power to impact the trajectory of an individual’s life and all the lives of those individuals that person interacts with.
To the point of this fanciful tale, if we could know the unintended consequences of our actions through something like our “What If” machine, would we want to?
Would we want to suffer the consequences that come from knowing all the alternate consequences?
No, I don’t think I do. I love my life and I am happy in the simple human knowledge of a life well lived with people I love. I like the suspense and surprise of not knowing everything that comes next.
I think I’ll grab my hammer go out back now to remake the “What If” machine into an abstract doorstop.
Have you experienced or heard about any Unintended Consequences? Reach out to me here or comment on the story. I would love to hear about your experience.
Good job delving down this rabbit hole. Sometimes good and bad have come from the same unintended consequence, such as leaving the comforts of home, yet finding a new life, and my wife. The bad consequences leave their mark, but the good ones outweigh them. I would rather not know beforehand. Thanks for writing.
I think I'll pass on the machine but it reminds me ... did you read Stephen King's 11/22/1963? Same thought process carried on in his unique style for a whole bunch of pages. One of the things I remember most is that it starts in 1958 ... when driver's licenses were on cardboard with no photos. Thanks for the thought experiment.