How does luck work?

After watching the video from one of my threads earlier today, I started thinking about the essence of luck and possible explanations for how and why it exists. There was a theory mentioned in the video that reality could be entirely explained and caused by math. This got me thinking, what if luck is a natural ability that some individuals possess to manipulate the mathematical variables of the world in their favor? It seems to me that in some cases luck almost acts like a genetic trait, which this theory would support.

I'm sure we've all noticed that there are often situations where somebody works extremely hard and tries as best they can, yet they can't seem to catch a break. On the other hand, there are those who don't put forth any effort at all and everything still seems to go their way. My grandmother always said my dad could fall in a pile of s**t and come out smelling like a rose, and she adopted that saying to both of us

This also brings me to the subject of ESP and psychic ability. Could they be linked, perhaps? Could psychic ability be a highly evolved form of the "luck" trait?

So what does the rest of ATS think? Could luck be a subconscious ability to read the mathematical equations of the world and manipulate the variables to their favor? And could this trait be genetic?

That's all I've got now, but I'm sure I'll have more to say as I think about it more.

karmic balance, i believe
wouldnt good karma at the right time be seen as luck?
vice-versa as well

Originally posted by GenerationXisMarching
karmic balance, i believe
wouldnt good karma at the right time be seen as luck?
vice-versa as well

I don't think I would describe it as karma. Karma is the idea that good deeds will be returned in some way. I feel this theory of luck is much different.

Originally posted by GenerationXisMarching
karmic balance, i believe
wouldnt good karma at the right time be seen as luck?
vice-versa as well

I think karma is the impetus for the phenomenon we call luck, but there may be a psychic element as well. Being in karmic balance sort of "charges" your subconscious, which could increase your pschyic energies and allow you to be more in tune with your immediate environment; making choices, consciously or unconsciously, that could be perceived of as "lucky".

If that makes any sense at all.

I'm kinda disappointed more people haven't had anything to say about this. It's not a theory I've seen suggested before.

I wish I had the answer to this. I feel like I'm one of those people who can never catch a break. Albeit, I'm not tortured by horrible circumstances in life or anything. It's just that when something small can either go well or be a complete disaster. It tends to be a disaster.

reply to post by warbird03


Luck is most likely just an illusion. If it's any more than that, then luck is a lady.

Positive Mental Attitude i'm told, That's what my sister say's
and does she love to wind me up about how lucky she is!

Honest you have never seen anything like it! she is the luckiest person
I know, every competition, lottery, (small wins) scratch cards, cross word prize's Etc.

Take the other week. she had entered this competition on facebook to win this
mega expensive "IT BAG" you can imagine all the entries, and SHE WON IT!
She said when she saw the bag she said to herself "I Have To Have That Bag"
she is big into hi fashion and nice clothes.

She told me she knew she was going to win it,said she could feel it?

Now take me. the most unlucky person on the planet. just getting over a really bad
run of bad luck. You would not believe how bad it got!
everything i touched broke, GF left me, lost my job, bad health, money problems
The list goes on, If I had a dog it would of died!

There is no such thing as luck, this is a cultural and social perception. What people view as luck or lucky, can only be defined "after the fact" so the deciding factors are largely arbitrary. Does a person who breaks their leg, thereby preventing them from skiing on their big planned trip have bad luck? Most would say sure - major bad luck. BUT, what if that break prevented the going simply to prevent them from skiing off a cliff? What if that break prevented them from going, which meant they'd be home to take that all important job interview?

The other problem with the notion of luck is that it presumes you have zero control over anything that happens to you, which is not the case at all. Luck is a victims mentality, design is an empowered person's mentality. If you believe in luck, you believe in chance, you believe that you are a victim of circumstance. If you are empowered you believe all is as it is, you are in charge and there is no need for luck.

There is no lucky, or unlucky, only "is."

reply to post by crankyoldman


What you guys seem to have missed is that's almost exactly what I'm saying. It goes back to that theory I mentioned that our reality is governed by mathematical equations. I'm not talking about long, drawn out things like that broken leg example. I'm talking about much shorter time spans. Take a game of cards, for example. Let's go with blackjack. You get dealt a a jack and a 6. Not a terrible hand, but not much of a chance of winning either. You decide to take a chance on another card and it just happens to be a 5, giving you a perfect 21. Now, if we go back to my theory about luck, then we could look at this a whole new way. You could have received that 5 on pure chance, but perhaps some innate ability to manipulate the variables in those mathematical equations governing reality changed things in your favor as they happened?

reply to post by crankyoldman


No I beg to differ.
why do you think we have the word in the 1st place?
Luck is a state of mind. It must be something like that.

reply to post by warbird03


i read through this thread about 30min to an hour ago and was about to post a small reply but kind of was at a loss of words. though the question itself is pretty simple, the hypothesis you present is pretty abstract, somewhat metaphysical.

but apon seeing this thread again it kind of hit me that i have gone through life with little thought put towards really defining the dynamics of 'luck', and yet i've always felt that i had a very real understanding of it. that might seem to not make sense, but think of not knowing how a car works or it's inner machinery but still being able to drive it quite well.

i beleive to a degree, or perhaps infinitely to any degree ( if possible and you knew how ) one can minipulate 'luck'. but anyways the main point of me putting my response here is that i think 'luck' can be illustrated very nicely and accurately to 'my' personal view as being like 'the force' from star wars

sounds kind of goofy but i think it is a nice illustration for a topic somewhat abstract

As soon as you know how luck works, you will no longer be lucky. Luck requires one to maintain an event as a remote possibility, as soon as those events are encapsulated into our range of predictable outcomes, when the events occur, we no longer consider them luck, but rather, a complex and mechanical process, or whatever explanation that we have given to the occurrence of said events.

reply to post by SystemResistor


I actually agree with this method of thought the most so far. It's funny how close it gets to quantum mechanics. I've always believed that in order for :luck" to work you just have to believe that things will go your way, because like a quantum computer luck can be in any and all states at once, it's only after you look "under the hood" of the computer that its state is perceived and no other option is available to you in this reality.

I think the OP is right that "luck" can be manipulated to create an outcome to your advantage, but once you start looking closely at the mechanics of "luck" you lose the possibilities and "luck" automatically shifts to only one stance instead of all at once.

This also isn't a victim's thought process. Instead you're recognizing you have control over the situation, but instead of delving deeper into understanding the process itself, you choose to simply use it to manipulate your reality and bump yourself to a parallel reality where the outcome is to your advantage in the moment (unlike the skiing accident where the advantage comes days later).

But this is just my thought on the process. I'd love to see comments on this in order to flesh out my theory and the OP's.

reply to post by Acedrew89


For example, many people believe that it is "good luck" when a bird flies above and defacates on them, often usually serving as a moment of humour to highlight a rather inconvenient event, however, it also serves to prove that luck is usually defined as the unexpected. If I stood under a tree full of pidgeons after they had been eating, it would cease to be luck. That is, according to the parameters of regular behaviour, I would be very lucky, but not according to the parameters of specific behaviour, that is, standing under the tree.

Luck is determined by the personal human assessment of the results of actions.
Luck only "works" in our perceptions.

Originally posted by traditionaldrummer
Luck is determined by the personal human assessment of the results of actions.
Luck only "works" in our perceptions.

Did you even read the thread? That's almost what I've been saying. Instead of me typing it all out again, why don't you go back and read what's been said?

Originally posted by warbird03

Originally posted by traditionaldrummer
Luck is determined by the personal human assessment of the results of actions.
Luck only "works" in our perceptions.

Did you even read the thread? That's almost what I've been saying. Instead of me typing it all out again, why don't you go back and read what's been said?

I saw several opinions conveying an opinion like mine. I didn't realize that precluded me from making a similar one. So sorry to have ticked you off.

reply to post by traditionaldrummer


I don't have a problem with you having an opinion, but as you said there's been a few people who have posted in this thread just to say "luck doesn't exist", which if they had read and understood what I've said they would realize that's kind of what I said except I took it a step further than just saying "luck isn't real."

Originally posted by warbird03
reply to post by traditionaldrummer

 

I don't have a problem with you having an opinion, but as you said there's been a few people who have posted in this thread just to say "luck doesn't exist", which if they had read and understood what I've said they would realize that's kind of what I said except I took it a step further than just saying "luck isn't real."

I don't see what you've said as saying what I did. You are also talking about "ESP" and "psychic" and manipulating "mathematical equations that govern the universe". I think that myself and others have every right to reiterate that luck is simply a perception and not related to esoteric and/or mystical forces.