What is luck?

I am wondering if anyone on here can maybe give me an explanation to what luck really is?

I have wondered many times if luck can be measured. Is it perhaps something that we are all born with?
Like in a role playing game, where you can attribute luck points to your character. Or is luck what we make of it?

It just seems weird that some people tend to have more luck than others. this guy

Or maybe it is some deeper thing. For example, let's say a guy gets shot, but he survives it. Is he lucky, or is because of brilliant medical work. It would seem to me that luck is just a concious thing.

Please, if there is anyone on here that has maybe got a theory, share it. And let's discuss it.

I think there is more to luck than meets the eye. Or maybe not....

VVV

Luck is probability statistics and chance.. Thats all not everyone has the same chance as the next guy so statistically he might die today.. or win the lottery.. either way chances..

You might be right, but I'd be surprised if anybody can come up with a scientific way of testing this sort of thing.

reply to post by uraniumgrenade


Exactly, uraniumgrenade.

Is there even a scientific way to test it? I doubt it.

And if luck is only "statistics", why then do some people have a "statistically" greater "chance" to have better "luck"?

VVV

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


God says that we suffer for the sins of our forefathers. Perhaps this is why some people seem to have such blessed lucky lives for no reason while others have mostly misfortune.

I don't know what the hell my forefathers did, but it must have been BAAAAAAD.

reply to post by ThichHeaded


Ok, I had to laugh with your comment, and googled it. Here are statistics about dying in the UK, versus winning the lottery.

www.medicine.ox.ac.uk...

If you want to have a nice funeral, it's probably better to put a few dollars towards that, rather than toss a few towards the lottery.

To me, at least, this article shows that winning the lottery is pure luck. Afterall, while not many of us win the lottery, you can be assured that someday you will be dead!

I'd say luck is probably simply a disposition, varying from person to person, which can affect the outcome of events relating to that person. Maybe some people have a certain knack which allows their minds to be more perceptive than others in playing the lottery, I don't know.
I know someone who everyone calls incredibly lucky, because he always escapes accidents unscathed. My guess would be that his body is simply adapted in such a way as to cause certain outcomes to weigh more heavily in his favour than for others.
The problem is that such hypothetical things are so small as to be immeasurable to current scientific equipment.
So to summarise, I'd guess that evolution has caused some people to possess immeasurably small or obscure tendencies which happen to be well-suited to the way society operates. Just a guess though, really.

reply to post by Blanca Rose


Indeed, but winning it 7 times?

What is the statistics of that!!!??? There must be more to luck than what we know.

VVV

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


In the article, it says he has a "special method," for winning, but wouldn't say what it was.

It also doesn't say how much he pays out to win. I do know my father was a religious lotto player, power ball at least, and he had a chart showing what numbers win with the most frequency.

Somehow this guy winning 7 times isn't just luck. He figured out how to beat the system to win as many times as he has.

Wouldn't you love to be a fly on his wall?

I find simple questions the most difficult to answer. Like, why is 1 + 1 = 2? Where does the wind come from? Why is the water wet? What I found out is that intelligent people have a harder time explaining those things than idiots. So, to answer you question about what is luck, I decided to ask an idiotic friend of mine and here is his answer:

"Luck is when your girlfriend gets pregnant and you find out the child is not yours because she was cheating on you."

It depends upon how you define "luck" because the concept is widely variable.

For example, getting hit by a car when there is a doctor standing next to you, who has the knowledge and materials handy to save your life could be considered lucky.

But it's only somewhat lucky if this occurs at the front door of a hospital.

It's astronomically lucky if it occurs on the side of a deserted, rural highway.

Getting your dream girl (guy) is really lucky. Getting them because you happened to be there at the exact right time after they've gone through a rebound - less lucky.

We can, in many instances, manipulate luck to one degree or another.

So maybe luck is not exactly what we think it is, an irrational defiance of odds - and more an alignment of opportunity, preparation, instinct, and a realistic expectation set.

'Luck is the residue of design' - John Milton

Not sure how that would apply to the lottery but I guess the general idea is that you create your own luck by beleiving in positive results and putting effort into a well thought out plan.

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


luck is the combination of chance, intuition, confidence, and strategy. strategy because you dont always take part in what would bring you luck. confidence, because you need to take part in something. intuition because it guides you to the right situation at the right time. and chance because, it really depends on the rest of those variable being in line.


if you wanna know "rigged", its puttin a large bet on 10 at a roulette table, and the 15 table around you landing on 10 and your table landing on 00. true story. shananigans.

I used to think luck was real something that some people were well "lucky to have".
Many years ago I lived closely to someone who I thought was lucky I still live closely to that person and now understand its not luck at all.

This is a bit hard to explain but the nearest I can relate is "its a way of life" "its a belief" "its knowing" all rather than hoping and wishing. You cannot hope for luck or wish for luck it won't happen.

I'll keep it short - hope that helps

MJ2

Luck is mostly about perspective.

In an earlier example, it was said that someone would be lucky if they got into an accident, but a doctor was near to treat them. I wouldn't say they were lucky. I would say the people who simply saw the accident were luckier. In fact, the people that were safely at home had even more luck than the witnesses because they didn't have to see the trauma at all.

So the guy wins the $100K lotto 7 times. That makes him lucky by accounts. Does he have a loving family? Does he spend his evenings alone or, if not alone, without love? Now is he lucky?

Luck is highly situational.

Majestictwo and WicketttheRabbit, thanks for your replies. I feel you have explained it rather well.

Maybe it is just a situational thing. And maybe it is just a relativity thing. I don't know.

The thing is though that it can't be explained. We all know somebody that seems to be very lucky. And that always seems to have all the luck. Similar to the lady who found the passport of the apparent hijacker of the plane in the 9/11 incident. How lucky is that?

So can I then conclude that it's all about being in the right place at the right time? Being in a certain situation relative to what is going to happen?

It is too much for me to think about. My mind is getting tired. lol

VVV

What a great question. Here is my take on luck.

Things happen to people. Some things are considered good and some not so good. Whether something is good or not is down to the individual. The same event can be considered good by one person and bad by another. It is a point of view depending on many things.

People recognise patterns in things. If there is a series of events then an individual may recognise a series of common factors within the events or relate the events to an external event or notion. When this last happened to me it was also a Tuesday. I was wearing this hat the last time this happened.

Say something that a person thinks is positive or good happens. A few days later something else happens that also is good and they notice that they were wearing the same shoes. The link between the shoes and the event is made in the individuals mind. The shoes did not have any material effect in whether the good events happened or not. The person may feel a sense of luck in the future when wearing these shoes again. This lucky feeling would take the form of a feeling that the likelihood of something ‘bad’ happening being less likely.

When people are relaxed and feeling good they perform better. So there is some real measurable positive effect. It is in the mind of the individual. So I suppose luck can have a positive effect in certain circumstances.

So I suppose that the mindset of luck can be positive. Luck itself does not exist as such, it is simply a mindset. It exists inside the individual mind only. There is no external ‘force’.

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep

got a theory, share it

I'll give you two:

For materialists
Given any distibution of possible events, there is a given likelihood of a any particular event occuring. That is measureable. For example, if a lottery from a million possible numbers is drawn, the likilihood that any particular number will come up is one in a million. If you buy a million tickets, one for each number, you're gaurunteed to win. If a million different people each buy a single ticket, and each with a different number, somebody is gaurunteed to win.

Now consider the following scenario: There are four football games. In each game there are two teams. There are therefore 16 possible combinations of wins/losses. If you make 16 sets of "guesses" as to the outcome, you can be gaurunteed that one of those sets of guesses will be correct. Right?

So...what happens if prior to the first game you mail a letter to 16 different people. In 8 of those letters you predict that one team will win, and in the other eight you predict that the other team will win. Half of your guesses will be correct. Then, after the game is won, whichever team wins, you then send a second letter to the eight people for whom your letter was correct, and of those, in four you predict that one team in the second game will win, and in the other four you predict that the other team will win. Once again, half of your "predictions" will be correct. And if you keep this up for the remaining two games, after the fourth letter is sent, from the perspective of the indiviudal who receives that letter, you will have correctly predicted four games in a row.

Given enough guesses, it's basically inevitable that somebody will be right. Similarly, given enough events, and given enough people to experience them, it's basically inevitable that somebody is going to have really nice things happen to them.

"Luck" is a measure of the propotion of those events that happen to an individual.

In the letters scenario, one person received four out of four letters that were correct. From his perspective, that's four "lucky" guesses. But two people received three out of four letters that were correct. Even with one incorrect guess, those people are still likely to perceive you as a pretty good source for who's going to win the next game.

Applied to the real world, with six million people, it's extremely likely that there are some number of people who live out entire lifetimes of everything going their way.

That's what luck is.


For spiritualists
Simpler, though more cryptic explanation: If masculine and feminine forces are naturally (magnetically) attracted to each other, then it is the natural state of the universe that desire would tend to be fulfilled. Getting what you want is as normal as a ball rolling down hill. The only thing preventing it is blockage. A ball can't easily roll downa hill in there's a boulder in the way. Feminine energy can't easily flow to meet desire if there are blockages.

So, "luck" is basically either a measure of the lack of blockage in one's nature, or a measure of the inverse of one's tendancy towards self-denial.

reply to post by LordBucket


I have to say LordBucket, that your explanation are extremely good.

You have convinced me with your point of view on the matter, and therefore I will now use your explanation if anyone else asks me what luck is.

Thank you.

I geuss i was lucky that you answered my question. This is the type of answer I was looking for.

However, do feel free to still give theories on this matter, as I believe the more theories there is, the higher the chance we will eventually get a widely acceptable answer.

VVV

Originally posted by Blanca Rose

To me, at least, this article shows that winning the lottery is pure luck. Afterall, while not many of us win the lottery, you can be assured that someday you will be dead!

Meh, I donno I was thinking along time ago about this luck thing..

I had come to conclude things as good lottery and loser lottery..

How this works is persay this:

I go out find 5 bucks I would call that good lottery..

I would go out and fall get hurt I call that loser lottery..

I think this way because everything we do in life has some sort of statistical value to it..

I wak up and post this message, same thing i do every day(not this message but on ATS in general) now from that point i decide wtf i am going to do today..

I can go outside decide to go and get a lottery ticket, statistically I am as much likely to win the lottery than anyone else. so we are all at even odds here.. I am also statistically vable to be killed within 1/2 mile around my house of where ever i may go.. so i am also statistically viable as anyone else..

Now these 2 things about I can call chances.. The chance in my getting nailed by another car is small considering it happens remotely around where I am.. BUT.. there is still that chance.. There is also a small chance I will win said lottery after i buy a lottery ticket.. but also again a small chance..

Do you see what i mean, Its all a matter of chance statistics and probability..