My Thoughts on Luck
Posted on: January 20, 2011, at 07:37:27am

Alright Chelsey, here is what I think about the concept of luck. It exists, but it`s not as prevalent as one would think it is. For example, I win a lottery, but I`m not lucky... I bought a lottery ticket just like anyone else, which in turn just means the correct numbers were drawn as to the same number on my ticket, nothing lucky about that when I meant to pick the right numbers.
Thomas Nagel, a philosopher residing in New York created the concept of moral luck, but the problem is it eliminates responsibility from the individual because we`re thrown into situations which are beyond our control... so he uses the example of the nazi soldier, and I`ll copy/paste from my notes:
- Nazi Example: if the Nazi’s had not come to power then you would have never been at a Nazi concentration camp ordering people to death. If there were no circumstances you would have never ordered someone to death. But they did come to power, so you order someone to death, due to circumstances. Another person left Germany due to business and led a peaceful life in South America. The Nazi get’s all the blame and the business man does not. This all has to do with circumstances.
However, I would maintain that luck isn`t based on circumstances its just merely based on coincidences... things happen in the world that are beyond your control. We use luck to transfer those random happenings into a positive/negative reinforcement.
There is no luck God that makes people more lucky than others when a world works on probability, rolling dice and flipping cards.
I used to play card games competitively and luck is not a factor. Everyone draws good hands frequently and just because I didn`t doesn`t mean he is more luckier than I am.
In a world based on probability it makes sense to have luck but I would not call it luck... things just happen.