Friday, March 25, 2011

Fortune cookies all around

Being a lexicographer must be one of the hardest jobs on Earth. Defining words by just using other words can be very tricky sometimes. While there are definitions that are obviously easy, let's say 'Table', others not so much.

It is often forgotten that (dictionaries) are artificial repositories, put together well after the languages they define. The roots of language are irrational and of a magical nature.
Jorge Luís Borges

It's a tall order to try and explain things like pain, modesty, pride. How do you explain to someone who's been blind all his life what 'red' or 'dark' is?

However I'm going to steer a bit away (just a bit) from definitions.
I've been thinking about the concept of luck. Before reading on, I'd like you to stop and try to define luck.


Merriam-Webster defines it as
a : a force that brings good fortune or adversity
b : the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual


If we agree there's a force out there determining the outcome of certain events, what is it that makes people more or less lucky? Some people believe that carrying lucky charms, such as four-leaf-clovers or horseshoes, or doing certain rituals, throwing salt over your shoulder or knocking on wood among many others, draws this force to them like if they were magnets, or something. Some believe certain numbers like 13, or 4 in many parts of Asia, are bad omens and bring about bad luck.


From my very logical and often proof-driven point of view (I studied sciences after all) I have to ask... what is this driving force that brings good fortune? Does it really exist, is it a superstition? Or is luck just a perception of coincidences and situations by each one, modified into good or bad luck by their personality?

If a naturally optimistic person crashes a car, he will say he was lucky to be alive, where as a pessimistic person could say how unlucky it was he crashed his car; however how much of this was actually driven by luck, or was the crash just an accident?

Saying that certain things affect this force is treading very closely to the concepts of fate, going hand in hand with astrology, divination, and other things which I'm not very fond of.


Is this one lucky bastard or was it just a coincidence he didn't leave home 2 seconds earlier which could have meant his death?


So let's get scientific!

I say make 20 people walk into a mine field, 10 of them should walk under stairs before starting and 10 of them should be holding lucky charms and done lucky rituals. Let's see how many make it to the end. My guess is as good as any's, but I'd say about the same percentage from each group... and, okay, before you call me cruel, we can fill the mines with paint instead of explosives.

So what do you think about luck, what are your lucky rituals?

33 comments:

  1. He's lucky, I guess. If he'd left home earlier or later or whatever he wouldn't have crossed. Hehe.

    But I believe we make our own luck. None of that ritual crap. You are what you eat... And if you eat cigarettes and alcohol, well, you're gonna get pretty unlucky, aren't you? :P

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  2. I've used up all my good luck already.

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  3. No way that's luck. That dude is a BEAST. If he was any weaker in his sprint he'd be done for.

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  4. Luck is, in my humble opinion, a non-existent force. I strongly believe in the action - reaction theory. Nothing happens by sheer coincidence. You could say the man on the youtube footage is 'lucky', but luck as a factor had nothing to do with him being missed. It's just a saying people often use when describing a situation that seemed to go just right.

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  5. I believe there is no luck, some can be 'lucky' but i don't believe you can improve your luck by wearing objects, or as an atheist praying to God.

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  6. Great post, really gives you something to think about

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  7. I don't know about luck, but I once got a fortune cookie that said "keep your goals from the trolls"

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  8. LOL @ stevesonaplane xD i dont wana ruin the thread by going scientific on its ass :P

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  9. I press A and B repeatedly in order to catch my pokemans.
    And it works every time.

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  10. i believe in the law of averages. if i get heads on a coinflip 3 times in a row, while my probability remains 50% to get it again, it is unlikely that it will show a 4th time in a row. I use that to play cards and it helps sometimes, fails others :p

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  11. great video. he had a lot of luck

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  12. Ireland are playing Macedonia in a soccer match today, we've played them 4 times and each time we have had bad decisions go against us, so while I don't really believe in luck if we get screwed over again tonight I might just start believing in bad luck.

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  13. Lets fill the mines with candy instead! Lol, but I do like your logic. This really got me thinking about the whole subject of luck.

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  14. haha this motivates me to run sprints :)

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  15. I thought he's going to get hit but somehow he managed that last step

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  16. Luck is a matter of perspective in my opinion.

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  17. I've seen that video so many times, and it never gets old.. It's so close to getting him!

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  18. If the guy in the video left his house two seconds later, he probably would have made it to the crossing just in time to see the bus coming. Although nobody really knows how different things could have been if a seemingly insignificant event did or did not take place.

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