Luck

[shakermaker]

any opinions about these:

what is luck? ...does it really exist?
do we make our own luck? :unsure:

[SittingBull47]

good question. I think we do make our own luck. If we just sit around and do nothing, then what luck can we have? If we take action for various causes or just get out and find a purpose for ourselves, do something different, etc, then we have many opportunities for luck.

[Pedro Alonso Lopez]

An illusion surely.

[monkeydust]

Luck, as a realistic force shaping our lives is, quite simply, non-existant.

I don't belive that one has an unseen force of 'bad' or 'good' luck affecting ones life.Belief in such a force is merely an irrational, illogical, simplicstic explanation to account for occurunces: random, of ones doing or otherwise.

Following on, as I don't believe in luck as a force, I don't believe, strictly speaking, that we 'make our own luck'. Whatever control we have over our lives is not a result of 'luck of our making'.

[Comrade Yars]

A simple definition from said "Websters Dictionary": Luck - The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events.

I suppose one might say luck can simply be defined as chance. So if one has "good luck" in doing something. One might have a "good chance" of success in whatever it may be.

However, some will define luck in accordance with "faith" and as it is I don't feel the need to go into how illogical the ideal of "faith" in spiritual terms is to begin with.

*shrug* :rolleyes:

[Individual]

Luck.

Luck is merely a figment of false hope.

What exactly would be able to prove such a thing? Though you can't disprove luck, it seems likely that it is clearly nothing.

Things happen. When they turn out good, you may be labelled as having 'luck'. If things do not turn out good, you are labelled as having 'bad-luck'.

However, what about the guy that was 'lucky' and won the lottery. Before he was able to claim his ticket, his was hit by a car and killed. This would have been 'bad-luck'. If luck were real, you would think that he would not have become 'un-lucky' and killed by a car.

So I believe that luck is a false truth. A figment of the imagination. False hope. Luck is merely that, superstition. No matter what, good things or bad things are bound to happen to everyone. Whether acquiring something for free, or walking under a ladder and then breaking your leg. Things happen, and when they do, we label them as having luck or bad-luck. The thing is, these things would have happened despite your 'luck'.

Example: Have you ever had something that brings you luck (rabbit's foot, sock, an orange, etc.)? Surely in most cases this item proves to fail, and your hope of 'luck' failed. This happens to many. If luck were real, and this item that supposedly 'brought you luck' now failed, why would this happen if the item was 'lucky'.

Luck is a label. A false hope in the minds of the curious and hopeful.

[Wenty]

or maybe its just the description of something that happens in favour of someone by chance.

I don't see why you needed to wax lyrical though alwaysquestion and surely this has very little to do with philosophy.

[Individual]

'wax lyrical though'?

Can't quite interperet your meaning.

Again, this is a board of opinions. I expressed a logical opinion, therefore I don't know exactly what was 'not needed'.

Explain this to me please.

[Wenty]

i think you went over the top, it wasn't necessary to go on and on about something not worth philosophising over.

I also thought you were wrong.

[Individual]

That's the problem.

Luck is actually a topic worthy of discussion. This is what is great about individual thought process. I get to ponder over something you find inadequate.

If you find it a topic not worth philosophizing over, my question to you is why you felt the need to read through, and eventually post under this topic?

While you find this unnecessary to ponder over, I on the other hand have thought of this dilemna before. Thus resulting in a post in which you found unnecessary.

You don't agree with me. This is another great thing about philosophy and opinions. You don't have to agree. The fact that it is not worth pondering over, I wonder how you even had anything in that brain of yours to come up with the answer of 'I also thought you were wrong'. In order to come to that conclusion, you must have put thought into this. Therefore, it is worth pondering over, yet you felt like discrediting my beliefs.

[Wenty]

for goodness sake don't nail yourself to the cross!

[Individual]

For goodness sake, use your brain!

[Wenty]

ah its turned into a good ole immature slogging match!

My only point was, as a topic, luck wasn't worth devoting so much of your time to. I can say 'i believe in luck' and it not be a false hope because i'm believing that sometimes events occur fortuitously as they sometimes do.

[Individual]

ah its turned into a good ole immature slogging match!

I'm sorry. Did you post a logical explanation concerning 'luck'? You attacked my theory, not the opposite.


My only point was, as a topic, luck wasn't worth devoting so much of your time to.

Again, this is your opinion. To me, luck is a worthy topic of conflicting opinion. It may not be a break through philosophy, however it is worthy for commenting. If it is not worthy, why have you spent the time to post your stance on 'luck'?

Because you do believe in luck, would you please explain to me why you do, and what you have to defend your position that luck is real?

[Wenty]

i've already explained in the last post, "I can say 'i believe in luck' and it not be a false hope because i'm believing that sometimes events occur fortuitously as they sometimes do"

To debate the reasons for luck being real seems to me to debate the meaning of a word, like saying do you believe in people being capable of rationality, love, hunger or pain. When we talk about luck, we are talking about, in a broad sense, event(s) that occur in a way that are convienent or helpful.

Something happens and then we decide whether it is good or bad luck. But to debate luck philosophically seems to me useless as the word itself isn't that important. I don't think when someone says to you, 'good luck', they are wishing genuinely that some external force of nature can give you some.

I would also point out that i have never said i actually believe in luck in any of my posts, but thats beside the point as i'm just playing devils advocate.

[The Red Factor]

Luck in the shortest way possible for me to describe is, a random chance in your favor. Probability is definatly the key because luck seems to be an unlikeliness and random. So the probability of being lucky is the random chance that a probability of good things are going to go in your favor. But even though it should be so unlikely to be lucky why do so many people seem so? My lucky (if it is real) seems to be pretty even, it's usually evens out and thats the way i like it.

But i guess that definition would be in favor of luck being a positive. So luck really doesn't mean anything because if theres bad luck and good luck, this will mean it is factors into everything. So luck is really just another way we describe whether we have a good day or a bad day.

[mentalbunny]

The red factor sounds the closest. I don't knwo what luck is, but I was very lucky yesterday. Maybe it was God (that's what my mum thinks), maybe it was just chance, or a combination of lots of factors just working at the same time. Who knows, I don't really care.

[The Red Factor]

Who knows, I don't really care.


Maybe it was you who summed it up best mentalbunny, but still an interesting discussion.

[monkeydust]

I still maintain that luck doesn't really exist, in any realistic form.

'Luck' is a force, believed by some to affect our lives, if good things happen to us we have 'good luck' and obviously bad events can be put down to 'bad luck'.

As far as we can tell, events which turn out 'good' or bad due to know apparent fault of our own are a result of simple 'chance'. This can go result in something 'good' or 'bad', yet only due to the 'luck of the draw'.

If one rolls a dice 3 times scoring a 6 each time, I believe this will simply be a result of random chance. Conversely one who rolls a 1 several times is unforunate, though this 'bad' event is again due to random chance not to some unseeable force of 'luck'.

On a larger scale, people may have randomly 'good' or 'bad' things happen to them regularly throughout their lives. Due to such events one man may beliee he has 'good' luck ; another may believe the opposite. In any case, these events, are due to simple chance, not due to the unseeable force of 'luck'.

A think a belief in luck as a real power is irrational and downright silly.

[Take the Power back]

I think of Luck as a coincidence that works out in your favor, or quite the opposite if that Luck is considered "bad."

[Lefty]

I believe that you make your own luck. If you work harder, you succeed more than people who don't. But that's common knowledge, right? What interests me is why some people seem to get all the luck in small stuff like card games. I obviously don't have anything to back this up, but some of my friends always seem to have luck on their side. Case in point: I was playing "Halo" with some friends yesterday. I kept respawning directly in the crosshairs of one of my friends, who isn't good at Halo. This happened like 8 times. Just out of curiosity, how does Che-Lives feel about this kind of luck? I mean, is it karma? Did I screw someone over and then subsequently got screwed over by forces beyond my control? Or was it just a crazy freak coincidence? Did he have anything to do with it? I DEMAND ANSWERS!