The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life)

by Chris Hardwick

I finally had to construct a bullshit “if-then” situation so my brain would let it go. It went something like this: “Well, IF I had stayed at that event any later, THEN it’s possible a meteor may have fallen and killed me on the way home.” OF COURSE THAT IS HIGHLY IMPROBABLE. But it’s not 100 percent impossible either, and that’s how my brain gets tricked. It’s a weird, secular outgrowth of my Italian Catholic mother’s “everything happens for a reason” thing. (Though don’t free will and determinism create a universal paradox? Oh, never mind.) She would always say, “Well, if you had done that other thing, you might have died in a car accident on the way home, so don’t feel bad.” I added the meteor because large unexplained meteors in urban settings are funny to me for some reason.