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The Role of Luck in Life Success

blogs.scientificamerican.com

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Re: The Role of Luck in Life Success

#111

Post by skookumchuck »

raleec wrote: post #94

Apologies in advance but I must confess.. I don't get it. Can someone define luck? -I didn't choose my DNA. -I didn't choose my parents. -I didn't choose my circumstances. -I didn't choose which neural pathways were reinforced based on my experiences. -I didn't choose which environmental factors altered any of my biological systems. -I didn't choose not to die in my sleep every night from an undiagnosed ailment. Remo…

When are you going to stop blaming circumstance, and start looking at what you can do to improve your lot, and do that instead?

Re: The Role of Luck in Life Success

#112

Post by raz32dust »

raleec wrote: post #94

Apologies in advance but I must confess.. I don't get it. Can someone define luck? -I didn't choose my DNA. -I didn't choose my parents. -I didn't choose my circumstances. -I didn't choose which neural pathways were reinforced based on my experiences. -I didn't choose which environmental factors altered any of my biological systems. -I didn't choose not to die in my sleep every night from an undiagnosed ailment. Remo…

I think the point is that we realize that most success (and many failures) are due in large part to things beyond your control. This realization is important and has social implications - it gives us a reason to be more charitable and kind (spread some luck around) when we are successful.

Re: The Role of Luck in Life Success

#113

Post by skookumchuck »

lisper wrote: post #110
raleec wrote: post #94

Apologies in advance but I must confess.. I don't get it. Can someone define luck? -I didn't choose my DNA. -I didn't choose my parents. -I didn't choose my circumstances. -I didn't choose which neural pathways were reinforced based on my experiences. -I didn't choose which environmental factors altered any of my biological systems. -I didn't choose not to die in my sleep every night from an undiagnosed ailment. Remo…

I think most people believe that you can choose, on any given night, to study or play video games. And I think most people believe that if you choose to study then sooner or later you will succeed. And I think most people are wrong on both counts.

Studying improves your odds of success. Video games improve your odds of failure. It's your choice.

Re: The Role of Luck in Life Success

#114

Post by [deleted] »

lisper wrote: post #110
raleec wrote: post #94

Apologies in advance but I must confess.. I don't get it. Can someone define luck? -I didn't choose my DNA. -I didn't choose my parents. -I didn't choose my circumstances. -I didn't choose which neural pathways were reinforced based on my experiences. -I didn't choose which environmental factors altered any of my biological systems. -I didn't choose not to die in my sleep every night from an undiagnosed ailment. Remo…

I think most people believe that you can choose, on any given night, to study or play video games. And I think most people believe that if you choose to study then sooner or later you will succeed. And I think most people are wrong on both counts.

[deleted]

Re: The Role of Luck in Life Success

#115

Post by skookumchuck »

RobertoG wrote: post #100
skookumchuck wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luck won't happen to you if you don't get in the game. Getting in the game means getting out there swinging. Getting in the game is a choice you make.

"Getting in the game is a choice you make." If you are lucky enough to make that choice ;-)

Did you reply to me because luck took hold of your fingers, or did you choose to?

Re: The Role of Luck in Life Success

#116

Post by lisper »

skookumchuck wrote: post #113
lisper wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people believe that you can choose, on any given night, to study or play video games. And I think most people believe that if you choose to study then sooner or later you will succeed. And I think most people are wrong on both counts.

Studying improves your odds of success. Video games improve your odds of failure. It's your choice.

That's true, but being in the right place at the right time improves your odds of success more.

Re: The Role of Luck in Life Success

#117

Post by zouhair »

raleec wrote: post #94

Apologies in advance but I must confess.. I don't get it. Can someone define luck? -I didn't choose my DNA. -I didn't choose my parents. -I didn't choose my circumstances. -I didn't choose which neural pathways were reinforced based on my experiences. -I didn't choose which environmental factors altered any of my biological systems. -I didn't choose not to die in my sleep every night from an undiagnosed ailment. Remo…

Don't be so sure[0]

[0]: http://www.radiolab.org/story/91644-is-free-will-really-free...

Re: The Role of Luck in Life Success

#118

Post by skookumchuck »

lisper wrote: post #116
skookumchuck wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Studying improves your odds of success. Video games improve your odds of failure. It's your choice.

That's true, but being in the right place at the right time improves your odds of success more.

So put yourself into the right place. There's a reason people move to Silicon Valley, for example. Put the video game console down, turn the TV off, get up and go to where the opportunity is.

Re: The Role of Luck in Life Success

#119

Post by comboy »

raleec wrote: post #94

Apologies in advance but I must confess.. I don't get it. Can someone define luck? -I didn't choose my DNA. -I didn't choose my parents. -I didn't choose my circumstances. -I didn't choose which neural pathways were reinforced based on my experiences. -I didn't choose which environmental factors altered any of my biological systems. -I didn't choose not to die in my sleep every night from an undiagnosed ailment. Remo…

It's just one of these discussions. We create abstractions to describe reality and happenings around us. And then something happens and it's not clear whether it should be described with abstraction A or B. And people tend to have super strong opinions on the matter.

Re: The Role of Luck in Life Success

#120

Post by mindcrime »

maxerickson wrote: post #101
mindcrime wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting... there's an anecdote floating around out there somewhere about a famous wrestling coach (quite likely Dan Gable[1]) talking to a group of young wrestlers and telling them something approximately like: "Most of you have the genetics to be an Olympic wrestler. But most of you don't have the work ethic". Of course that's just an amusing anecdote and there's no reason to think that Dan Gable is an expe…

And what if the personality traits that feed into "work ethic" have a strong genetic component?

That's possible. That's one reason I don't take this quote as gospel or anything. Like I said, it's just food for thought.

As far as that goes, we don't even know for sure that we have free will and that we ever actually make any decisions at all. Maybe the whole universe it totally deterministic. I mean, it's hard to see an explanation of how it isn't so. That said I prefer (well, I think I prefer) to believe that we do have free will.

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