Do You Believe in Luck

i guess the luckiest thing that ever happened to me in a casino was when i was heading to the cage to cash $55 in chips but the line was too long and i didnt feel like waiting around. there was a 3card poker table near the cage and i never play the game but decided to plop $55 down on pairplus and i get dealt 999. with the $1650 i had now, it was definitely worth waiting in that line.

Quote: rudeboyoi

i guess the luckiest thing that ever happened to me in a casino was when i was heading to the cage to cash $55 in chips but the line was too long and i didnt feel like waiting around. there was a 3card poker table near the cage and i never play the game but decided to plop $55 down on pairplus and i get dealt 999. with the $1650 i had now, it was definitely worth waiting in that line.

What happened to the first $55? Or does 3 of a kind pay 29 to 1 at your casino?

It seems that if one talks of a person being lucky or unlucky, either for just a short period of time or inherently throughout that person's life, then what we are really talking about is the concept of fate. Then, if we take all the romantic, literary, religious and etc. connotations away from the concept of fate what we are really talking about is the philosophical concept of Determinism. Determinism is still a hot topic amongst philosophers in Academia, so it is definitely not a close book issue. It seems that if one believes in Determinism then they would also believe in luck, as a person could be determined to have either a great or terrible life and one would be lucky to have the former and unlucky to have the latter. Then it follows that one who believe in Compatibilism may or may not also believe in luck, and that one who believes in free will should not also believe in luck.

Personally, I may be a reluctant Determinist. It seems that the philosophical arguments for determinism are beginning to be backed up by science, especially in the fields of neurology, but I think it is best for me to act as if free will was real (I may be determined to think this, however). I feel the same way about Karma...I don't really think it exists but I find it best to act as if it does.

So I guess in conclusion, I may or may not believe in luck?

Quote: progrocker

So I guess in conclusion, I may or may not believe in luck?

So, do you believe in luck only when the cat's dead, or when it is alive?

I believe that we would all be lucky if all cats were dead, although I admit I do not understand your reference.

My point is that it doesn't matter whether or not luck exists because the way I act is not predicated upon its (non)existence.

Schrodinger's cat in a box. The quantumly dead cat. I guess the poor cat has both good and bad luck at the same time. *snicker*

Unless you consider that he was put in the box in the first place. That's bad luck.

Quote: dwheatley

Schrodinger's cat in a box. The quantumly dead cat. I guess the poor cat has both good and bad luck at the same time. *snicker*

Unless you consider that he was put in the box in the first place. That's bad luck.

Ah! Progress! We can determine luck is not a quantum state!

Unless the cat wanted to be in the box, of course.

Quote: Nareed

Ah! Progress! We can determine luck is not a quantum state!

This Deep Space Nine episode disagrees with that statement: http://www.startrek.com/database_article/rivals
It's all about the solar neutrinos, apparently.

Quote: progrocker

This Deep Space Nine episode disagrees with that statement: http://www.startrek.com/database_article/rivals
It's all about the solar neutrinos, apparently.

It's hard to take technobabble seriously.

Remember when Voyager found an element with an extremely high atomic number? it was produced by decaying alien corpses of all things.