Survivor bias
The most troubling aspect of survivor bias hit me one day when I was discussing the fairness or otherwise of life. I mean, is it really a meritocracy where those with the greatest skills and work ethic end up being the most successful? My friend said he felt like it was. That to him, the world was fair.
And it was then that I realized this is another one of those survivor bias phenomenons. It's only because you're successful, because you survived, that the world seems fair. And if you had worked equally hard and just not gotten anywhere and not become successful, then the world would feel much more unfair.
But of course, it's those people who are successful who can tell themselves that story — that their outcome is the result of their hard work, their ingenuity, their perseverance. And maybe to a degree it is, but also, maybe to a degree, there is luck in there. And for other people who work just as hard, they have less luck, and they end up on the down side of fortune.
And of course it's the people who are successful who then get to make the rules. They have all the resources, they get the influence. And what do they say about people who aren't successful? Do they attribute it to luck? Or are they more likely to just say, no, success comes down to the hard work that we put in. That's maybe the worst result of survivor bias — it's the survivors who get to make the rules.
Source: Survivor bias