Thanks for this – regarding Luck and Life, I can recommend Richard Wiseman’s “The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind”. A person who perceives themselves as ‘Lucky’ is more likely to take advantage of opportunities than those who do not. This can explain why they were more successful, or perhaps felt they were. Professor Wiseman is a well-known skeptic and paranormal investigator and avoids many of the “pop-psychology” pitfalls: he eliminated the supernatural hypothesis by buying each subject a lottery ticket. There was, of course, no pattern in the wins and losses that corresponded to how lucky the participants felt!
AC Harper
2 years ago
But in the event of a Great Stabilisation where all became equal beneficiaries of the Rawlsian social lottery a new rich and elite would soon disturb the Stabilisation as their natural lottery would have unfettered expression. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss – as the Who sung.
Consider “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut… in this story where all are made equal, by handicapping where necessary, eventually those blessed by the natural lottery break free.
Jane Morris-Jones
2 years ago
It has always seemed to me that buying a lottery ticket confers upon you a ‘right to dream’…though the chances of a big win are infinitesimal, it is better than the zero chance you had before. As a lifelong dreamer, I think this is a very powerful force and in some sense a force for good that, far from exploiting the poor, gives them equality in a ‘what if’ world.
Simon Denis
2 years ago
Luck is neither “earned” nor “unearned”; it is a form of property, as innately associated with the individual as his or her body. Therefore, to tax, reduce or appropriate it in any way is to launch an assault upon their most fundamental right. How typically left wing.
That is a truly bizarre argument. You should not tax property, is that the argument?
The merits of private property are not absolute but depend on social and economic outcomes. There isn’t any great moral merit to the fact for example that the ancestors of land owners were often given the land by the King, and his ancestors conquered it by force.
The level and structure of taxation is also a pragmatic issue to be debated in society, not a form of ‘theft’ as so many libertarians argue. There is and will never be a purely libertarian society by the way.
Adam Bartlett
2 years ago
Great article.
Can’t prove it, but for me Luck , Destiny & maybe Fate are supernaturally real. Maybe the reason why this isnt’ accepted by mainstream science is that Lady Luck is bashful, so doesn’t show up to play in Empirical tests. Or maybe they sometimes do, but militant materialists fake the results when its not to their liking, which is alleged to have been the case with some of CSICOP’s work. That said, the vast majority of what the sceptics label as “magical thinking” / quackery probably does deserve those labels, with misunderstood chance accounting for most of the otherwise unexplained patterns we think we identify.
I’m not so sure about destiny and fate, I don’t believe things are predetermined, however blind luck plays a very important part in almost all our lives. Being born into a wealthy family with contacts to set you up in the world of work is exceedingly lucky, not that you’ll ever hear people in this situation admit it as they all believe their success is down solely to their own actions rather than the leg ups they’ve received.
Likewise I’ve seen people stay in jobs and get nowhere, whilst others have left and moved up exceedingly quickly. I’ve also seen the opposite happen in both scenarios, with those involved having no way of knowing how their decisions would have panned out before they made them. Luck is one of the most important aspects of our lives, we just admit it because most of us don’t like to think that that much of our lives is completely out of our control
Terence Fitch
2 years ago
Well do you feel lucky punk? Well Mr Dirty Harry since I’m cowering on the ground with your Magnum pistol pointed at my head..err no.
Galeti Tavas
2 years ago
The USA State of Georgia created the lottery for Social Justice. Every resident of Georgia with a ‘B’ average in high school would get free college or University in the State from the profit.
That almost all the revenue of the lottery is from the low income who’s children tend to not graduate university, and it is paying for all the Middle Class children who universally go to college – University. This was not brought up much. And when it is no one cares.
This is the most twisted regressive tax of all regressive taxes…. I hate the Lottery, and would outlaw it if I could. It is a degenerate way of raising money for a government – who have NO Business in providing gambling. That is NOT a remit of government in any sane definition of what government is supposed to do.
It gives those at the bottom a chance to escape the monotony and drudgery of their lives, and the way the system is stacked against those with nothing for most it’s their only chance of escape, no matter how vanishingly small it is. You can argue that using lottery funds to pay for university is a bad use of the money and I’d tend to agree with you, but to outlaw something that gives people a bit of hope and licence to dream a little seems unnecessarily cruel
Thanks for this – regarding Luck and Life, I can recommend Richard Wiseman’s “The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind”. A person who perceives themselves as ‘Lucky’ is more likely to take advantage of opportunities than those who do not. This can explain why they were more successful, or perhaps felt they were. Professor Wiseman is a well-known skeptic and paranormal investigator and avoids many of the “pop-psychology” pitfalls: he eliminated the supernatural hypothesis by buying each subject a lottery ticket. There was, of course, no pattern in the wins and losses that corresponded to how lucky the participants felt!
But in the event of a Great Stabilisation where all became equal beneficiaries of the Rawlsian social lottery a new rich and elite would soon disturb the Stabilisation as their natural lottery would have unfettered expression. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss – as the Who sung.
Consider “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut… in this story where all are made equal, by handicapping where necessary, eventually those blessed by the natural lottery break free.
It has always seemed to me that buying a lottery ticket confers upon you a ‘right to dream’…though the chances of a big win are infinitesimal, it is better than the zero chance you had before. As a lifelong dreamer, I think this is a very powerful force and in some sense a force for good that, far from exploiting the poor, gives them equality in a ‘what if’ world.
Luck is neither “earned” nor “unearned”; it is a form of property, as innately associated with the individual as his or her body. Therefore, to tax, reduce or appropriate it in any way is to launch an assault upon their most fundamental right. How typically left wing.
That is a truly bizarre argument. You should not tax property, is that the argument?
The merits of private property are not absolute but depend on social and economic outcomes. There isn’t any great moral merit to the fact for example that the ancestors of land owners were often given the land by the King, and his ancestors conquered it by force.
The level and structure of taxation is also a pragmatic issue to be debated in society, not a form of ‘theft’ as so many libertarians argue. There is and will never be a purely libertarian society by the way.
Great article.
Can’t prove it, but for me Luck , Destiny & maybe Fate are supernaturally real. Maybe the reason why this isnt’ accepted by mainstream science is that Lady Luck is bashful, so doesn’t show up to play in Empirical tests. Or maybe they sometimes do, but militant materialists fake the results when its not to their liking, which is alleged to have been the case with some of CSICOP’s work. That said, the vast majority of what the sceptics label as “magical thinking” / quackery probably does deserve those labels, with misunderstood chance accounting for most of the otherwise unexplained patterns we think we identify.
I’m not so sure about destiny and fate, I don’t believe things are predetermined, however blind luck plays a very important part in almost all our lives. Being born into a wealthy family with contacts to set you up in the world of work is exceedingly lucky, not that you’ll ever hear people in this situation admit it as they all believe their success is down solely to their own actions rather than the leg ups they’ve received.
Likewise I’ve seen people stay in jobs and get nowhere, whilst others have left and moved up exceedingly quickly. I’ve also seen the opposite happen in both scenarios, with those involved having no way of knowing how their decisions would have panned out before they made them. Luck is one of the most important aspects of our lives, we just admit it because most of us don’t like to think that that much of our lives is completely out of our control
Well do you feel lucky punk? Well Mr Dirty Harry since I’m cowering on the ground with your Magnum pistol pointed at my head..err no.
The USA State of Georgia created the lottery for Social Justice. Every resident of Georgia with a ‘B’ average in high school would get free college or University in the State from the profit.
That almost all the revenue of the lottery is from the low income who’s children tend to not graduate university, and it is paying for all the Middle Class children who universally go to college – University. This was not brought up much. And when it is no one cares.
This is the most twisted regressive tax of all regressive taxes…. I hate the Lottery, and would outlaw it if I could. It is a degenerate way of raising money for a government – who have NO Business in providing gambling. That is NOT a remit of government in any sane definition of what government is supposed to do.
It gives those at the bottom a chance to escape the monotony and drudgery of their lives, and the way the system is stacked against those with nothing for most it’s their only chance of escape, no matter how vanishingly small it is. You can argue that using lottery funds to pay for university is a bad use of the money and I’d tend to agree with you, but to outlaw something that gives people a bit of hope and licence to dream a little seems unnecessarily cruel