Luck
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de:Glück pt:Sorte This article is about good and bad fortune. There is also: Luck, Volhynia, a town in Ukraine, and Luck, Wisconsin, a village in the USA.
Luck may be analysed from three viewpoints: rational, social, and spiritual.
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Rational viewpoint
As related to the occurrences of actual events considered to be of low probability in a mathematical or statistical sense. A rationalist approach would lead to the conclusion that such matters as whether or not someone bore a victim ill will would have no bearing upon (for example) that person being hit by a loose brick falling from a decrepit building. It was only due to a remote statistical probability that the brick's four dimensional space-time path intercepted the 4D path of the victim's head (this was an actual occurrence in San Francisco). In a case like this both rationalists and spiritualists would likely say that the victim was unlucky. In an example of good luck, a person winning a lottery would generally be considered lucky, although a rationalist might point out that there was bound to be a winner sooner or later, and there was actually nothing lucky about someone winning - it was merely a probabilistic event. It is doubful that the winner would agree with that analysis, however.
Social viewpoint
As a social phenomenon, there is much truth in the saying "what goes around, comes around" (see karma). On the one hand, those who are kind and generous to others are usually perceived as open and accepting and so more likely to be freely offered assistance from others. They are also more likely to also be able to ask for and receive help from others in time of need. On the other hand, those who are asocial or anti-social are less likely ask for assistance or to be offered assistance by others. The open, generous and cheerful person is more likely to be classified by others as lucky, while the curmudgeon is more likely to be considered by others or to consider him/her self unlucky.
Supernatural viewpoint
There is also sometimes considered to be a supernatural bias towards experiencing events of good or ill fortune. In this sense some belief that one's own or another's good or bad luck can be influenced through spiritual means or by performing certain rituals or by avoiding certain (from a rational viewpoint non-relevant) situations. Voodoo is a religious practice in which this belief is particularly strong, although many cultures worldwide place a strong emphasis on a person's ability to influence their luckiness by ritualistic means. This often involves proper respect for spirits, believed to inhabit a location prior to human occupation. In some cultures, if one builds a house on a property it is respectful to provide a small spirit house for their habitation. In other cultures, a building may be interrupted by a passageway to allow the flow of spiritual energy - the location being determined by an expert in such matters. In such cultures, ignoring such matters is believed to lead to misfortune - bad luck. In this context there is also the concept of "purpose" to events ascribed to luck, good or bad.
Effects of viewpoint and beliefs
The belief in luck as a supernatural phenomenon is generally regarded by rationalists as a form of magical thinking. However, there is evidence that people who believe themselves to have good luck are more able to take advantage of fortunate chance events in their lives, and to compensate for unfortunate chance events in their lives, than people who believe that they have bad luck. This appears to be the result of positive thinking altering their responses to these events. A belief in luck can also indicate a belief in an external locus of control for events in their life and so escape from personal responsibility.
Some philosophers argue that we each "create our own reality", literally and not metaphorically, and in that context what appears to be good luck can be interpreted as having beliefs that encourage or create what are putatively good outcomes.
Risky lifestyles
Often those who ascribe their travails to "bad luck" will be found upon close examination to be living risky lifestyles. For example: a drunk driver may ascribe their arrest to the bad luck of being observed by a patrolman, or the bad luck of being involved in a traffic accident (perhaps not even the victim's fault), as a way of avoiding personal responsibility for his/her actions.
Positive outlook
On the other hand, people who consider themselves "lucky" in having good health may be actually reaping the benefits of a cheerful outlook and satisfying social relationships, both of which are well known statistically to be protective against many stress-related diseases.
Effects
If "good" and "bad" events occur at random to everyone, believers in good luck will experience a net gain in their fortunes, and vice versa for believers in bad luck. This is clearly likely to be self-reinforcing. Thus, although untrue, a belief in good luck may actually be an adaptive meme.
The gambler's fallacy and inverse gambler's fallacy are both related to belief in luck.
Numerology
Most cultures consider some numbers to be lucky or unlucky. This is found to be particularly strong in Asian cultures, where the obtaining of "lucky" telephone numbers, automobile license plate numbers, and household addresses are actively sought, sometimes at great monetary expense.
Sayings
Popular sayings and quotations related to luck:
- "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" -
- "You make your own luck" -
- "When it rains, it pours" - this is an expression of the mathematical property of statistically independent events to bunch together.
- "Bad things happen in threes" - see above
- "Luck is the residue of design" - Branch Rickey
- When something happens by "sheer dumb luck", it is considered to have happened unintentionally and without planning.
- "Luck doesn't exist." There are more variations on this phrase than can be listed here, but not enough to make believers care.
- "Luck be your lady tonight"
- A famous Samuel Goldwyn quote sums up the rationalist view: "The harder I work, the luckier I get".
- Knocking on wood, spoken expression used as a charm to bring good luck.
Items or events
Several items or happenings are considered lucky or unlucky.
Lucky
Unlucky
- Friday the 13th
- Black cat crossing your path
- Stepping on a crack
- Breaking a mirror
- Spilling over salt
Luck in fiction
- Gladstone Gander, a fictional cartoon character, is dependent solely upon his good luck.
- Joe Btfsplk, a character in the Li'l Abner (Little Abner) comic strip by the cartoonist Al Capp is not only unlucky, he is shunned by the other characters as they suspect (with good reason) that this bad luck may be infectious.
- In Larry Niven's novel Ringworld, the character Teela Brown was the incredibly lucky result of a centuries-long breeding program initiated by the alien Pierson's Puppeteers directed to just such an outcome. The consequence of her state was that she'd led such a charmed and worry-free life that she was emotionally immature and unprepared for "harsh reality."
- In Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, luck is an anthropomorphic personification known as the Lady, who, while not a goddess, is powerful enough to be the rival of the god Fate.