Today is Friday the 13th. And do you know what that means? Not a damn thing. Because luck is bullshit.
What is luck? Well, it's described in two different ways: a beneficial or harmful event beyond one's control (your video card craps out on beta weekend) and as some sort of force that shapes outcomes (eating black-eyed peas for dinner on New Year's Eve will bring you prosperity). I have no problem with luck in the first sense, but the second sense is superstitious nonsense.
"I feel lucky today."
So?
"Here take this, it'll bring you luck."
How?
"It's bad luck to ____"
So what?
My first really big problem with the concept is the utter lack of mechanism. How does lucky/unlucky thing X have any causal connection with outcome Y? People will tell you all day what is luck or what is unlucky, but they won't tell you how it works.
My second is the subjectivity of the concept. 13 is an unlucky number in country A but not in country B. Black cats are unlucky to some people but lucky to others - one side or another must be wrong. On what basis do people say that something is lucky or unlucky?
It actually sorta bugs me that these are still very widespread beliefs that an awful lot of people take seriously. These are people who have educations, careers, and possibly some intelligence as well, and yet can't shake very primitive superstitions. I don't get it.
I got married June 13th. I'm still trying to figure out if I was lucky or not. :shock: :rollin: Solitary
When Napoleon was reviewing his generals he would ask questions of others to get a full picture. Most would tell him of a particular general's attributes, battles won and excellence in tactics and strategy. He would think about that and then ask, "ah, but is he lucky?"
Luck is a silly concept, but humans are a superstitious lot.
And sometimes (but not often) there's something behind people who are "lucky". We still don't fully understand all the effects of a positive attitude, but those who consider themselves lucky certainly have it. In that regard it's a self-fulfilling prophecy; if you feel lucky, good things will happen to you, because other people react positively to your attitude.
Quote from: "Hydra009"as some sort of force that shapes outcomes (eating black-eyed peas for dinner on New Year's Eve will bring you prosperity).
You mean it's not chick peas? Son of a gun!
Quote from: "Solitary"I got married June 13th. I'm still trying to figure out if I was lucky or not.
Me too, and I think I was.
Quote from: "Hydra009"Today is Friday the 13th. And do you know what that means? Not a damn thing. Because luck is bullshit.
What is luck? Well, it's described in two different ways: a beneficial or harmful event beyond one's control (your video card craps out on beta weekend) and as some sort of force that shapes outcomes (eating black-eyed peas for dinner on New Year's Eve will bring you prosperity). I have no problem with luck in the first sense, but the second sense is superstitious nonsense.
"I feel lucky today."
So?
"Here take this, it'll bring you luck."
How?
"It's bad luck to ____"
So what?
My first really big problem with the concept is the utter lack of mechanism. How does lucky/unlucky thing X have any causal connection with outcome Y? People will tell you all day what is luck or what is unlucky, but they won't tell you how it works.
My second is the subjectivity of the concept. 13 is an unlucky number in country A but not in country B. Black cats are unlucky to some people but lucky to others - one side or another must be wrong. On what basis do people say that something is lucky or unlucky?
It actually sorta bugs me that these are still very widespread beliefs that an awful lot of people take seriously. These are people who have educations, careers, and possibly some intelligence as well, and yet can't shake very primitive superstitions. I don't get it.
"Luck" in a superstitious context IS bullshit.
But in evolution and science luck is not bullshit. In reality chaos and order are not disconnected, but overlap.
Quote from: "Plu"Luck is a silly concept, but humans are a superstitious lot.
And sometimes (but not often) there's something behind people who are "lucky". We still don't fully understand all the effects of a positive attitude, but those who consider themselves lucky certainly have it. In that regard it's a self-fulfilling prophecy; if you feel lucky, good things will happen to you, because other people react positively to your attitude.
Guess I am an anomaly to that then... I consider myself an extremely lucky person but have a pretty "meh" attitude...
Luck to me is just good or bad, something that sticks out.
Drop a big steel block on your foot=bad luck.
Missing foot with steel block=good luck.. :)
"Luck is the residue of design."
Quote from: "Plu"And sometimes (but not often) there's something behind people who are "lucky". We still don't fully understand all the effects of a positive attitude, but those who consider themselves lucky certainly have it. In that regard it's a self-fulfilling prophecy; if you feel lucky, good things will happen to you, because other people react positively to your attitude.
Yep. Every winner believes that fortune smiled upon them. Quite a few of the losers, too. At least before things went wrong for them.
Quote from: "Brian37"But in evolution and science luck is not bullshit. In reality chaos and order are not disconnected, but overlap.
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Directive: Explain.
Quote from: "Hydra009"Quote from: "Brian37"But in evolution and science luck is not bullshit. In reality chaos and order are not disconnected, but overlap.
Unable to process input.
Directive: Explain.
We know, for example what conditions lead to hurricanes. That is the order part. But we cant pinpoint the exact number of raindrops or the paths of every raindrop. That is the chaos part.
No divine intervention, but when good things happen they just happen.
An example of bad luck, being in the dining room below during a tornado, the place the VOA decided we should all go in the event of 400 mph swirling winds ripping the roof off the place and especially bad luck if you're a vampire..all those wooden chairs.
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"Gotta wear my lucky socks to the game so we'll win!" Right, because the universe will stop whatever it is doing to make sure your team wins, just because you're wearing a particular pair of socks. :roll: That's what luck is all about: the idea that some unnameable, undefinable power is watching over each and every human being, doling out good or bad fortune based on completely arbitrary factors. Walking under a ladder, a black cat crossing your path, breaking a mirror, dropping a fork, placing a hat on a bed or your shoes on a table, and many other ordinary activities are said to bring bad luck. Nobody ever explains how this works, or why the universe would operate in such a nonsensical manner. The belief in luck is, in my opinion, kind of like the lowest grade of religion there is, since it assumes that everything is beyond human control and is under the direction of some other force--not unlike believing that God is controlling the universe.