# Luck-what is it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 21, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260 "2011-06-21T05:04:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/21 "2011-06-21T15:38:13Z")
> [@jamiemcgarry](#): > > But that’s my question; what if it’s what DOESN"T happen? Come again? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/22 "2011-06-21T15:39:32Z")
You are asking two questions and most are answering the one in the thread title - “Luck - what is it?” To the other question, the one posed in the OP, “Is the absence of ‘bad luck’ the same as ‘good luck’?” I would answer “no”. And the absence of good luck isn’t the same as bad luck either. The way I look at it (given the question) you have three stages: Good Luck No Luck Bad Luck The absence of luck in one form or the other does not necessarily translate into the existence of the opposite form of luck. It just means “no luck”. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/23 "2011-06-21T15:40:25Z")
I think Penn said it best with something along the lines of “Luck is taking probability personally.” Randomness will inherently result in some unexpected results at times, like the aforementioned example of a person winning the lottery more than once, or even something as mundane as flipping a coin and getting a long string of heads in a row. They may have low probabilities, but over a sufficient number of trials, even the lowest probability events eventually become likely to have happened. The problem is when people see these patterns arise and assign the cause to providence. But there could be other explanations. Using the coin example, I could expect that over a sufficiently large number of trials I should see an equal number of heads and tails. However, maybe I flip a particular coin and over a large number of trials I see a large disparity, maybe we flip it 1000 times and never see tails. Maybe it’s just a statistical anamoly. Maybe we have some sort of experimental bias that makes it much more likely than expected to land on heads. Maybe our understanding of the odds of flipping a coin is wrong. Providence is just another possibility among many that could explain such a scenario. Then again, many don’t believe that the hand of God operates in overt ways, so perhaps it could be something as simple as taking advantage of these variations in seemingly random events such that they coincide in accordance with that plan. But even then, I don’t see it as really that meaningfully different. Even if we follow that approach, how do we know what value to assign to those situations? We certainly cannot have reasonable expectations that unexpected events will happen at expected times. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/24 "2011-06-21T15:55:00Z")
A couple of favorite quotes, from God knows where: If it wasn’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all. Unfortunately the law of probabilities isn’t enforced around here. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/25 "2011-06-21T16:03:10Z")
“If it wasn’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all.” _Gloom, despair, agony on me. Deep dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, agony on me._ From _Hee-Haw_ ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/26 "2011-06-21T16:53:40Z")
Statistical anomaly ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/27 "2011-06-21T18:32:26Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > That’s a nice motivational poster, but you can prepare and have all the opportunity in the world and still get hit by a bus crossing the street. If you get hit by a bus, then you weren’t prepared. Preparation and opportunity are methods of weighting in your favor the giant probability engine that is life. It’s a military maxim that’s carved into the laws of the universe. You can’t catch a break if you’re not present to receive the opportunity or lack the ability to pursue it. Preparation and opportunity make it so that no matter which of a dozen ways the situation decides to go, you win. > [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > This comment reminds me of the Spanish guy who won the lottery, with the last number being 48. When asked how he got the correct last number, he replied: {paraphrased} “I dreamed of the number 7 for 7 straight nights. And 7 times 7 is 48!” I don’t get it. Is it funny because 7x7=49? Or that he was thinking 7s and ended up with 48? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/28 "2011-06-21T18:39:46Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Luck = Preparation + Opportunity Luck is success without preperation and/or opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/29 "2011-06-21T19:27:27Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > …I don’t get it. Is it funny because 7x7=49? Or that he was thinking 7s and ended up with 48? People often “take credit” for their good luck and not for their bad luck. People that correlate luck with _preparation_ and opportunity were invariably the recipients of good luck. In this case, the man was taking credit for winning the lottery due to his dreams. I don’t know if he was implying that there was divine intervention or simply a random but fortunate dream sequence. But in either case, he was truly lucky that he wasn’t _prepared_, i.e. not having a good memory of the multiplication tables or a handy calculator or motivation to check his math. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/30 "2011-06-21T19:51:06Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > If you get hit by a bus, then you weren’t prepared. If you read that as, “derpdie-derpie-doo, here I go wandering into traffic,” then I concede. But I was using the phrase metaphorically. Bad things happen to people for absolutely no reasons all the time, due to nothing they have done, haven’t done or prepared for. Unless we want to get metaphysical about it and say, “you weren’t prepared for that plane crashing into your house, because if you were, you wouldn’t have bought a house where a plane might crash.” ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/31 "2011-06-21T19:56:10Z")
As you get older you’ll learn 99% of the time luck is nothing more than having the financial and/or social resources to overcome your bad choices in life ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/32 "2011-06-21T22:02:19Z")
moral luck. confer Nussbaum. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/33 "2011-06-21T22:18:54Z")
Enough futzing around. You can find the Straight Dope on luck [here.](http://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/answers/faqs2/X0009_On_Tithing_and_its_P.html) Go thou and do likewise. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/34 "2011-06-21T22:33:56Z")
Selective perception. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/35 "2011-06-21T22:35:46Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > Selective perception. > > Enjoy, > Steven 🙂 Wonderful! Wire me the money! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/36 "2011-06-21T23:38:35Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > A couple of favorite quotes, from God knows where: > > If it wasn’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all. Probably from “Born Under a Bad Sign.” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/37 "2011-06-22T00:58:24Z")
Coincidences that we like. Or sometimes a series of coincidental events that result in a favorable outcome. When I say, “What great luck! I found $50!”, I’m not attributing this to some non-random pattern or the whims of something mystical (otherwise, I would have used the word “blessed”). I’m just using “luck” as shorthand for, “Wow! What an unexpected course of events that just happens to work in my favor!” Some people use it to describe someone who tends to have good things go their way more likely than not, but that’s just crazy. Some people no doubt do seem to have “luck” on their side, but usually they’re consistently putting themselves in the right place at the right time, perhaps taking more risks than normal. As the saying goes with the lottery, “You can’t win if you don’t play.” The same goes for life too. It’s hard to have a “series of fortunate events” happen to you if you’re at home all the time, eating Munchos and staring at the dust motes. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/38 "2011-06-22T01:11:00Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “No, if he got paid $1.5 million for his machine shop _and he didn’t have a machine shop_, then he could be considered ‘lucky’.” That’s not so much “lucky,” as it is “fraudulent.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/39 "2011-06-22T02:23:13Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s not so much “lucky,” as it is “fraudulent.” Please! Such an ugly word! Call it “Preparation + Opportunity!” ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260/40 "2011-06-22T12:17:01Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s not so much “lucky,” as it is “fraudulent.” Yeah, but then, the luck lies in not being caught. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luck-what-is-it/586260.md?page=3)