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I suppose I could put this post in the Academic category, but this is for sure a cross-category question. Bear with me here.....
Occasionally agnostic.com people, I spend a dollar to play the lottery. "It costs a dollar to dream", I say. I buy one or two occasionally.
I have won my dollar back twice. That is the extent of my winnings. It seems ALMOST mathematically astronomically rare that my loss to win ratio is as high as it is. As an an atheist, I do sometimes wonder: How the hell is someone so damn unlucky? I don't gamble much, because I rarely win. I try and live by the mantra that if I prepare, assess risk, and put myself into good positions, I will create my own success(luck? so to speak). [blogs.scientificamerican.com] I completely realize that luck does influence SOME of our success, and I do think it's worthwhile to reiterate my statement to avoid ambiguity on the impact of luck: Some. Success. is . Influenced. What do you you guys think abut luck? There are so many possibilities that can happen in a given situation.... why are some people seem just a little more lucky sometimes? I don't think it's some divine power frankly. I personally think they just play the game more (risk seeking/more skin in the game?). Bonus cool points if you reference Nasubi, or Jerry Gergich in any way shape or form.

cheffers317 4 May 9
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I came of age at 21 years old because that was what it was in 1969 in England - To celebrate I did all the things thta were previously illegal.I smoked a cigarette (badly). I bought myself a pint of bitter in a pub - and I put a bet on a horse called Lauravella - I was encouraged by my partner to place another bet on another horse as he said that it was a boring bet just doing one that was a favourite. I didnt want to but I did and that was probably the beginning of the end of our marriage - Lauravella won Ribocco didnt.I havent ever bet since nor smoked and don't drink.

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I mean, say you run a program that randomizes many people each flipping a coin 10 times. Most will have around 50/50 heads/tails. But the more people you randomize it for, the more likely there are to be cases of people that get 9 heads, or 9 tails, etc. There are billions of people, it's only natural some would have good or bad "luck" (outcomes based on chance) far more frequently than average probability.

I do also think most outcomes are only partially determined by luck, and partially by choices. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Someone who plays the lottery more is more likely to win, but they're also probably going to experience more losses than someone who plays less.

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All my successes could be traced back to knowledge, perseverance and pretty blue eyes. I do not play Lotto because i am not math impaired. And once I stopped comparing myself to others in my life or in my field,I became much happier.

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The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent-Carl Sagan

Fortune favors the prepared mind-Louise Pasteur

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I also am not a gambler and have never won enough to come out ahead but that isn't what I think about when I think of luck. Of course good luck is real but I believe is rarely responsible for true success. When exposing yourself to business risk for something you really believe in and it fails, you will most likely pick yourself up and pursue your goal from a different angle. If your gut was right many people will say you were lucky.

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Lady Luck or Chance..is blind..and neither does it have memory. Mathematics or that part of it that concerns game theory (which is really concerns relationships between 2 or more players..not really lotto stuff), Nash probability all blind.
Luck is just completely random...you can stack or weight the odds in your favour...but if you do not participate..you can't really be lucky..unless your wife wins...

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As an online mmo game player it just random based on RNG, random number generator, to get something valuable in the form of loot or nothing. Same with any prize drawing even if picked by hand, random. There is even a god of sorts to pray to called RNGeezuss in the hopes of better loot. Works as well as any praying does too.

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“Luck”, or just factors beyond our control influence our lives a lot more than people like to give it credit for. Things fall into place after hard work, and that is attributed to the hard work. Though it is equally possible that the hard work had little to do with it and things just happened that way.

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I am clueless about this, but I used to work with someone who used to win so many things that It really made me wonder if he didn't have some kind of Alien thing going on (not really). In the space of three years, he won two brand new cars, a trip to Jamaica, $10,000 on a scratch-off lottery ticket, and a washer-dryer combo from a local appliance store. One car was through a church raffle. The other was one of those car dealer events where they mail people keys and if yours starts the car, you win it. Any time we had raffles at work, or any type of games, he was guaranteed to win at least three raffle prizes and something to do with the games. It was really kind of eerie. I have never known anyone before or since like that. Virtually anything he entered, he won something.

Was it just that he entered more competitions than you? You could be considered the lucky one as you lost less competitions than him. (because he entered and lost many while you only a few).

@smoyle Actually, I asked him that once and he told me that he hardly ever loses, and I believed him because every time we had anything at work, he won something. Went to Bingo with him once - he won 4 times - the other people we were with did not win at all. Oh well.

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Luck is just random happenstance. However, when it comes to gambling, the house always has the edge. They design their game that way.

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People say I've been lucky all through my life.
That I have good qi....I'm blessed....etc........
I don't know...wasn't so much fun for me sometimes. I've had to live it, not see it. Fortuitous random events that could have easily gone the other way and badly but didnt...., what can you say. Calling it luck as if something bestows favor......naaahh...shit happens or doesn't.
My luck will run out.
Buy me a lottery ticket too.
Who are Jerry and Nasubi ?
Tell them but me a ticket too.

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The odds are always 50/50.
You are either going to win, or you aren't.

Actually, that's not true. Odds can be very long.

@dare2dream I stand by my original statement.

@KKGator : How about if I put one bullet into a six-shooter and aim at a target. The other five chambers are empty. I spin the chambers (like Russian roulette). What are the odds of the gun going off on the first pull of the trigger?

@dare2dream I don't care.

@dare2dream the odds of one in 6 chambers having the one bullet is 6:1. But, the current chamber will have a bullet or it won't so that's 50:50 right? What I mean is if you go through the whole revolver your odds are 6:1, then 5:1 etc untill you die but each shot is 50:50.

@dare2dream sorry, not die, I was thinking of russian roulette.

@smoyle I beg to disagree. If you get only one shot it will be 1 to 5 odds.

@KKGator : LOL! Great reply! 😀

@dare2dream Thank you. In the immortal words of Han Solo, "never tell me the odds!"

@smoyle : Let me give you another scenario. Imagine a roulette wheel with 36 slots. Choose one slot and place your bet. You spin the wheel and roll the ball. You ball will enter the slot you choose or not. 50/50 chance. Right? Wrong.

The ball has one winning slot and 35 other places it can land. 1 in 35 odds.

If half the slots are black and the other half are red, you can bet on the ball landing on a black slot. That's 50/50 odds.

@dare2dream you're probably right.

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I don't gamble.

@cheffers317 Cool.

@cheffers317 He's insane.

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