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My thoughts on this are that before acquiring the stones to use the gauntlet Thanos would physically choose half of a race or group of people to spare and kill the others. Once he used the glove, it wasn't him physically choosing who would die and who would live on a conscious level, the stones simply acted on his will to elimitante half of life in the universe and did so radomly, only perhaps done so species by species. That would explain how and why despite being physically selected to be elminated by Thanos at the start, Thor and Hulk we're not later eliminated by the gauntlet. The same could be said for Stark, though Thanos did choose to spare him in exchange for ths time stone, I believe ultimately his fate was chosen at random by the gauntlet.
It made the character a lot deeper. He did specifically wanted it to be random. That is why he does not just annihilate anyone in his ways. He does have a moral compass and not just plain evil person who wants to destroy all and rule all.