Small Mistakes With HUGE Consequences — The Whirlpool of Wisdom

Author Adidas Wilson
4 min readSep 20, 2023

Throughout history, the smallest mistakes, oversights, or simple human errors have led to profound consequences, altering the course of events in often unimaginable ways. These missteps remind us of the interconnectedness of events and the delicate balance in which our world operates. Let’s delve into some of the most notable small mistakes with colossal outcomes.

  1. The Typo That Cost $224 million
    In 2017, a cryptocurrency wallet provider named Parity encountered a devastating vulnerability. A user managed to accidentally exploit a flaw in the multi-signature wallet code, effectively making himself the sole owner of multiple wallets. Attempting to undo his mistake, the user then accidentally destroyed the code that allowed said wallets to move their contained Ether, rendering $224 million inaccessible. All because of a coding oversight!
  2. The Missed Message that Led to the Titanic’s Sinking
    The tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912 resulted from a series of unfortunate events. However, a crucial communication error intensified the disaster. The ship’s radio operators received iceberg warnings, but the most crucial one was never passed on to the bridge. The message was set aside due to a backlog caused by a broken-down radio system. This oversight played a pivotal role in the events that followed.

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Author Adidas Wilson

Adidas Wilson was born in Chicago, surviving a near death experience driving off a bridge in an 18 wheeler and getting hit by a train. Author and Motivator