Luck is a concept that dates back to the beginning of our civilization. But is luck a fallacy or a fact?
In our so called modern society luck has a great influence in our culture, our habits and even our decisions. Some people play games of luck, in hope for a better life, sometimes becoming addicted in the process. Others hope for better luck by acquisition of lucky charms, and the adoption of symbols of luck. Other people make a fortune from the aforementioned ones.
My main concern is this: why do we chose to believe in luck with such ease? By accepting such a powerful concept, we give ourselves a means to comprehend situations we would otherwise have a hard time explaining. When we get caught up in the rain, we blame it to bad luck. Similarly when we win at poker, we thank our good luck and the all-mighty god of the cards. So it is understandable to mix whatever occurrence resulted in that chain of events with luck.
One way to define the misconception of luck, is randomness. Everything that happens around us is based (in no small part) on randomness, which in turn is another hard to analyze concept. I prefer to view random, as a web of facts and events that is far too long for the human mind to grasp. In turn what we consider to be a lucky or unlucky outcome of an event, actually has an explanation, a very complex one a that. The only incident, that I could ever consider genuinely random and luck-based, is the Big Bang that created our universe, since absolutely nothing had ever happened before that, and even that could be proved wrong is the years to come.
Trying to somewhat conclude, I would have to say that luck is a fact, but one we have an ill grasp of. When something unlikely happens in our favor, we should just be happy about the fact itself, and not its origin, because we would hit a dead end, and in turn resort to believe in luck . No amount of four-leaf clovers, rabbit’s feet and horseshoes can increase the likelihood of such happy occurrences, just like black cats and broken mirrors can decrease it. If you believe in god, then consider that he would have come up with a more meritocratic system than luck to reward and punish his followers…
