I came across this statement in an article I was reading today

"You can play “what if?” until the cows come home, and it will make no difference to what was, and what is, and what will be." citation

Sophistry, at its finest!

Well, not entirely, but the statement is only about half true. One can play "what if" until the cows come home. So that is true. It will make no difference on what has happened, so the what was part is also true.

Where the statement fails is on the last two parts. The past, and debates about it, including "what ifs" form what is the current world. So on this point the statement is false, because playing what ifs do make a difference in what is. Similarly playing what ifs informs the future, and this gives the game of what ifs its other power. To some extent playing what ifs is simply the exercise of understanding the world. Obviously the author of this piece wanted to take the intellectually lazy way out of the situation, and attempt to cut of further discussion by damning all of what ifs.