Luck and Superstition
Offline Hi everybody, atheists and theists alike!
I'm quite new to this site, so please forgive me if this has been subject to a previous discussion. I'm still working myself through all the content on the site, which I found, clicking on a banner on some other site.
Anyway... I was going to ask you all this: Do you believe in luck?
I know, I do. On some rare occasions I'm very superstitious, for example, when I play Poker (I never pick up single cards, before all of them have been dealed) and also I regularly knock on wood. I have certain rituals that I always follow through, even though the rarely lead to better luck. I do it anyway. I think of myself as a strong atheist, but still I find myself silently "begging" (NOT praying) for better luck. Example: When I watch a match of my favorite sports team or when I gamble I go "Come on! Let this happen! Just this once!". I do however not address HIM, the Almighty, for i absolutely deny his existence. It's something different, I just wish for good luck and try to enforce it by using said rituals. I know its not rational but I probably will never stop it, neither do I feel the need to.
I stopped believing in any religion, when I first watched the news on tv and wondered, how this God everybody is talking about can allow for all this to happen. I know the counter argument to this, but that's just how it started. Today I refuse to believe in anything that cannot be scientifically proven. I believe in cloning and physics, lifeforms on Mars and the sorts. I can't find any guidelines in the Bible applicable to modern life, nor do I see the Holy Book as any more than a work of fiction. I won't believe until Jesus knocks on my door and through proof and conversation convinces me that he indeed exists. I will not accept a church that does not allow people to use rubbers or to abort unwanted pregnancies, neither do I see any form of reason in their arguments. All I still think in is that maybe something like luck may positively or negatively influence our lives within a certain range of probability and the rules of physics.
Coming to an end, I want to know if any of my fellow atheists here feel similarly.
just my 0,02 €
Yes I say "OMG"/"OMFG"/"Oh mah gawd!". It's a goddamn figure of speech.
- Login to post comments
"Luck" is a word humans use to describe a feeling. It is merely assigning a positive feeling to a random event. "Luck" and "miracle" are utterances of ignorance instead of merely saying, "I don't know how this happened, but I am glad it did."
It is conflating a seemingly rare event as being important and misses all the "bad luck" or "miracles" that don't happen.
It is mentally focusing on the "hits" and ignoring all the other data that when added up, really amount to a crap shoot, when one opens their eyes to all the data.
"Luck" is a superstitious word just like "miracle" and is nothing but an utterance of ignorance to fill in a gap when answers may not be available.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
Hi there, welcome aboard. I think believing someone or something is lucky is nothing more than wishful thinking.
"Luck is probability taken personally"
double post
I personally have no belief in luck or superstitions. Perhaps this is due to my extreme distaste of anything that smacks of theism/faith,but generally I think events are random.Sometimes things happen for us,sometimes against.
Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible
Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.
I don't believe in luck. When someone tells me they are "lucky" or "unlucky" it reveals to me whether they are an optimist or a pessimist. It's very obvious when hard statistics are involved like in dice or card games, as you can predetermine the probability of an outcome and measure it against their expectation and response.
"A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven." -- former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien
Yes, I'm perfectly aware how absurd it is to belief in something like gamling rituals the way I do. However I always think "It can't hurt, so why not stick with it!"
Here's a little story from my family. When we get together sometimes we sit down with the kids and play Yahtzee. (If you happen to not know the game: It's a dice game where you play with 5 dice and a cup)
So when I roll 2 "2"s lying separately on the table we call that "a gate". You must then make your remaining dice roll through that "gate" and you will achive a better score. So sometimes it actually happens that when I roll my dice between the 2 "2"s I get another 3 "2"s and win. I use that as "proof" for my theory that by rolling through a gate you can improve your "luck".
We're generally divided into 2 factions, the ones who try rolling through the gates and cheer everytime it "works" and the ones who call the whole theory bullshit and actually avoid the gates to disprove me.Personally I know that I get just as many bad scores sticking to my theory as I get good ones. Still for some reason I still do it.
So much for "you only count the positive situation, leaving out the negative ones". It's true and I know it, but can it hurt to stick to your little ticks? Just like I never say "Oh look we're having a good run here!", as it is bad luck. Everytime you comment a good run, it ends. Coincidence? Yes! But still, I avoid ruining my chances according to my point of you. Same goes for (not) knocking on wood after saying stuff like "I've never broken a leg or arm.".
I love having those little superstitions, seeing connections where there are none and the sorts. Even though, deep down I know that it's all a bunch of crap.
greets
Yes I say "OMG"/"OMFG"/"Oh mah gawd!". It's a goddamn figure of speech.
My defintition of "Luck" is just; statistical probability of an event... some days, "Luck" may be against you, you make "all the bad rolls"
My defintition of "Miracle" is just a statistically impossible (exceedingly unlikely) event
With that in mind, its no longer a matter of superstition, but of probability (aka math), so anything i can do to increase the odds in a meaningful way, does not make me superstitious... but then again, i dont ascribe to stupid voodoo techniques to help my odds... (black magic does me fine ;-p )
Just putting that out there
What Would Kharn Do?
If you want to be "luckier" just study statistics.