Conversation

one concept i use a lot for myself is what i call the "Kvothe Effect", because based on my very faint recollection of NotW the character goes through a lot of time learning skills that seem kinda incomplete and meaningless until later on when they all become important 1/
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i *really* feel like this about my own life, like so many random skills and half-skills I picked up along the way that seemed to have no greater purpose until suddenly aha i have been called on stage and my half-skill is invaluable because of the context
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Like, I'm not really top-tier at anything, but I have a bizarre collection of unusual, mediocre skills that, when combined in my context, become powerful in a way I could never have predicted. Hence, I have a bunch of the Kvothe Effect!
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I'm sure this is smwht of an illusion - I'm not seein all the ways I could have a cooler life if I'd had a diff set of skills, and opportunities sometimes arise for me *in response* to skills, not my skills coincidentally fitting, but still, the illusion kinda *is* the point
Replying to
I think this privately whenever I see a friend of mine pursuing a random skill down an obscure path, or finding themselves in a situation where a past skill seems to suspiciously fit perfectly. They're setting themselves up for, or experiencing, the Kvothe Effect
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Ironically this is also the argument I have seen school people make for why children should study whatever they tell them to and the effect apparently still exists enough so that at least some people find the argument sincerely compelling after the fact.