Poll: You guys believe in luck?
- Thread starter Halla Burrica
- Start date
Until we can reach a consensus of what kind of "luck" we're referring to, this survey is going to be completely meaningless.
First of all, yikes. 
Those people in the OP had it REAL rough, and they have my sympathies. Don't know how much those were affected by "luck", though. Especially suicides. Those are caused by complex emotional and social problems, not luck.
Anyway, yes, I believe in luck, and that it works differently for everyone.
In my case, I'm insanely lucky. Most of the time, things just work out for me. Not phenomenally, but usually pretty well, especially when I'm in a tight spot. It's kind of insane. 0_o
Another friend tends to have bad luck a lot of the time and keeps getting into bad situations, but his luck functions as a sort of "damage control". Accidentally crack his skull while home alone as a kid? For some reason, his grandparents happened to be be taking a walk nearby even though they almost never do, and they decide to drop in unannounced literally a minute after he cracks his skull. That saved his life. Another time he got hit by a car that decided to run a red light, while on a bike, with NO helmet. Survived with a concussion and bruises, doctors told him that by all rights he should have died. The guy might get into bad situations, but he keeps somehow pulling through when it really matters.
Meanwhile I have another friend who's a really decent guy, but holy shit his luck is awful. Accidentally steps on a nail because his boss forgot to have the floor swept the night before? Well, he has diabetes, so his foot is permanently bleeding for some reason. What's that? Some douche at a restaurant (or something I forget the details) thought it'd be funny to stick a thumbtack in a random person's shoe? Turns out it's my friend's shoe, and now BOTH his feet are perma-bleeding. Get falsely accused of rape twice by semi-random random people (one was someone whose cosplay post he liked on facebook, the other was a woman he chatted with for 2 minutes at a convention) and get in the newspapers? Yup, although in that case at least he was lucky enough to have an airtight alibi both times (first time, he was in the hospital in another city at the time, impossible for him to have done it. Second time, he had video proof that he was streaming Cards against humanity on Twitch with 4 friends at the time). Playing XCOM:EU on easy? Miss 80% of shots above 80% in the first 3 missions, everyone dies, this happens 4 times, he gives up on the game because the RNG hates him. He decides to clean the house he lives in with friends? Well, the broom just HAPPENS to break on him and cut his arm when HE uses it. And so on and so on. :s I feel pretty bad for the guy. It's just not funny how shit his luck is.
So yeah, there are some things that can't really be explained by just your environment (although that and the people you surround yourself with does have a huge impact on your life). Sometimes, shit just happens for no adequately explainable reason. That's luck. And everyone I've met has a different kind of luck.
Those people in the OP had it REAL rough, and they have my sympathies. Don't know how much those were affected by "luck", though. Especially suicides. Those are caused by complex emotional and social problems, not luck.Anyway, yes, I believe in luck, and that it works differently for everyone.
In my case, I'm insanely lucky. Most of the time, things just work out for me. Not phenomenally, but usually pretty well, especially when I'm in a tight spot. It's kind of insane. 0_o
Another friend tends to have bad luck a lot of the time and keeps getting into bad situations, but his luck functions as a sort of "damage control". Accidentally crack his skull while home alone as a kid? For some reason, his grandparents happened to be be taking a walk nearby even though they almost never do, and they decide to drop in unannounced literally a minute after he cracks his skull. That saved his life. Another time he got hit by a car that decided to run a red light, while on a bike, with NO helmet. Survived with a concussion and bruises, doctors told him that by all rights he should have died. The guy might get into bad situations, but he keeps somehow pulling through when it really matters.
Meanwhile I have another friend who's a really decent guy, but holy shit his luck is awful. Accidentally steps on a nail because his boss forgot to have the floor swept the night before? Well, he has diabetes, so his foot is permanently bleeding for some reason. What's that? Some douche at a restaurant (or something I forget the details) thought it'd be funny to stick a thumbtack in a random person's shoe? Turns out it's my friend's shoe, and now BOTH his feet are perma-bleeding. Get falsely accused of rape twice by semi-random random people (one was someone whose cosplay post he liked on facebook, the other was a woman he chatted with for 2 minutes at a convention) and get in the newspapers? Yup, although in that case at least he was lucky enough to have an airtight alibi both times (first time, he was in the hospital in another city at the time, impossible for him to have done it. Second time, he had video proof that he was streaming Cards against humanity on Twitch with 4 friends at the time). Playing XCOM:EU on easy? Miss 80% of shots above 80% in the first 3 missions, everyone dies, this happens 4 times, he gives up on the game because the RNG hates him. He decides to clean the house he lives in with friends? Well, the broom just HAPPENS to break on him and cut his arm when HE uses it. And so on and so on. :s I feel pretty bad for the guy. It's just not funny how shit his luck is.
So yeah, there are some things that can't really be explained by just your environment (although that and the people you surround yourself with does have a huge impact on your life). Sometimes, shit just happens for no adequately explainable reason. That's luck. And everyone I've met has a different kind of luck.
Only in the statistically improbable way (i.e. rolling a die and have it come up as a 6 ten times in a row). That being said, your environments and how you position yourself in said environment could manipulate the odds of a particular thing or event to happen.
No. Any two people in the same situation beyond their skills are equally likely to have any given outcome. There is no force pushing one to having a better outcome.
That would be silly.
...Although the number of people in this poll who believe in that nicely explains why I've met so many people who think XCOM is rigged.
That would be silly.
...Although the number of people in this poll who believe in that nicely explains why I've met so many people who think XCOM is rigged.
Simple answer, no. Luck is a concept we use to try to grasp why some people have more good things happen than others.
What does exist is chaos. Randomness is a force in the universe, one that we by definition cannot understand and can never control. As far as science can tell, it was pure random chance that we ended up with the reality we live in, and not one, for example, made of antimatter instead of matter.
Things just happen, and depending on how, when, and who they happen to, are labelled either good or bad, and placed into the lucky or unlucky column. Our lives are made up of random occurrences, and opportunities to change what is most likely to happen next. Luck is a thing in the same way faith is a thing; that is, it's a term for something we perceive, although it is not actually there.
What does exist is chaos. Randomness is a force in the universe, one that we by definition cannot understand and can never control. As far as science can tell, it was pure random chance that we ended up with the reality we live in, and not one, for example, made of antimatter instead of matter.
Things just happen, and depending on how, when, and who they happen to, are labelled either good or bad, and placed into the lucky or unlucky column. Our lives are made up of random occurrences, and opportunities to change what is most likely to happen next. Luck is a thing in the same way faith is a thing; that is, it's a term for something we perceive, although it is not actually there.
while I (and I believe many in this thread) understand what you are proposing, we just happen to use the word "luck" to describe peoples different experiences with chaos.TheVampwizimp said:
By all means, it's still just chaos and statistics, but that doesn't beg the difference that sometimes bad things happen more to someone and good things happen more to another, they are just labeled as "lucky" or "unlucky".
I know a few people right off the top of my head that I would label "lucky" and some that I would label "unlucky", but it's all just random chaos/happenstance.
Play Warhammer 40k for over a decade, then talk to me about luck.
Or more accurately if it DOES exist, I ain't got any.
Or more accurately if it DOES exist, I ain't got any.
While I don't believe that luck is a pre-determined attribute as you see in computer games, it is most definitely a thing. It's a descriptor - looking back on events where skill/preparation weren't a factor, such as someone choosing winning lottery numbers and another choosing losing ones, the first person was, without argument, luckier. It's like asking if "tall" is a thing - someone who is 7 foot high is tall for a human, but not so much for a building.
No. More that confirmation bias and ignorance exist everywhere.
It's down basically to stupidity: either you failed to account for something, or someone at the other end did. Being lucky is more about gambling than anything, it wasn't some external force that gave you a good hand, just random chance.
It's down basically to stupidity: either you failed to account for something, or someone at the other end did. Being lucky is more about gambling than anything, it wasn't some external force that gave you a good hand, just random chance.
Luck is the name we place upon things that are considered unlikely to happen to people; positive unlikely event, good luck - negative unlikely event, bad luck. And so on for the rest.
The issue is whether you believe it is something more than just an idea. If you think it can be controlled. Which I don't. But then...if you could control it, it wouldn't be luck!
The issue is whether you believe it is something more than just an idea. If you think it can be controlled. Which I don't. But then...if you could control it, it wouldn't be luck!
I'm not sure if you're asking asking about the existence of fate or some other kind of cosmic order, or if you're asking whether people's lives are more determined by chance (in the "too many variables" way) then by free will.
If it's the former, no. The chances of any single one improbable thing happening to you is, well, improbable. But the chances that any event that could be considered "improbable" could happen to you quickly becomes quite high.
If it's the latter, definitely. Contracting a deadly or debilitating physical/mental illness is completely random most times and is hard if not impossible to 100% mitigate solely by yourself.
If it's the former, no. The chances of any single one improbable thing happening to you is, well, improbable. But the chances that any event that could be considered "improbable" could happen to you quickly becomes quite high.
If it's the latter, definitely. Contracting a deadly or debilitating physical/mental illness is completely random most times and is hard if not impossible to 100% mitigate solely by yourself.
Luck in the sense of good and bad things occasionally stacking up or affecting certain people more than others due to the normal fluctuation dictated by probability, absolutely yes.
Luck in the sense of a mystical force that blesses some and curses others, no.
Luck in the sense of a mystical force that blesses some and curses others, no.
