Some people do not believe in luck. Rather they believe in predestination of all things, often by causation of a deity or other higher power.
There are other people, often theists and deists, who believe only in initial causation (or the first cause) by a higher power, and then all events that follow are free to luck (chance).
There are also some people who believe that god (or the gods) intrude metaphysically and guide circumstances, not necessarily predestination or absolute divine control, but rather a sort of regulation, like using gutter guards on the bowling alley of life. And, of course, there are some people who believe that god (or the gods) metaphysically intervene into our daily events of life by control in this event or that event, in some manner of divine discretion, or perhaps by the cause or influence of favoritism, or our petitions, our sacrificial offerings, or our prayers.
There are even some people who believe that we are the playthings of god (or the gods) to be used for divine entertainment, such as like god (or the gods) playing The Sims where we are the characters who have gained self-awareness after a hundred thousand years or so of released updates and upgrades.
In fact, there are all sorts of belief structures about the causation of things that occur within our perception of our existence, caused by other than pure luck. We can let that be, at least for the purpose of this particular post.
For this post, we will scope to events that include some manner of luck, for those of us, if any, who believe that luck (chance) exists. Moreover, we will recognize that luck is necessarily within the space that we ourselves cannot control or choose not to control; that is, we might control “how much” luck is applicable to a context, but luck—within whatever is the space of luck—is just that: luck. Luck can be contained to some degree, but not destroyed.
With regard to luck as intersected with wisdom, we start by recognizing the Bad Dude of existence: Time. Time moots the past, as such. We can learn from the past, but, so far as we understand it, we cannot go back. The past is gone, and time in the present is fleeting. [1] Therefore, where wise decision-making and luck intersect regards the future. Certainly, hapless fools are perceived lucky or unlucky solely within the present, like an object pinball bouncing around, but this is not an intersection of wisdom and luck. Also, there are people who can control a context, but choose not to do so, allowing the intrusion of luck where it would or could not otherwise intrude.
Now, when I speak of a hapless fool as a sort of claimed victim bouncing object of the fleeting present, I mean exactly that, and not almost that. The present means the fleeting now, not a split second from now. Some decisions regarding the future are rounded down to the present, but the future is the future, differentiated in degree, but not essence. A split second from now is the future. Wisdom regards a free decision regarding the future, whether the future will occur in one second or 20 years.
For this post, we have now eliminated deital control or influence. We have now eliminated the past and present. And we have now eliminated those contexts that we control. Therefore, we are addressing those situations in the future that we are trying to control within our power to do so, by wise decision-making, such as it is in the eye of the beholder.
To be clear, what we cannot and do not control, ever, is the luck as to itself; it is not the luck that is controlled, per se, because luck is luck (chance is chance). It may be subtle, even perhaps semantical, but what is actually being controlled is the choice of how to manage the space of luck. That is, sort of where luck will be and how much of it will be.
Before moving on, let’s step back and do a brief example of why we want to eliminate deital influence from a review of wisdom and luck.
Let us say an atheist decides to play the Powerball lottery, for which we of course know the odds of any player winning the jackpot are highly improbable.
The atheist makes the decision to play the game (the “Causal Decision“), then the game occurs (the “Events of Circumstance“), then the result is determined (the “Resultant Effect“). If the atheist wins, the atheist tends to say, “I got lucky!” If the atheist loses, the atheist tends to say, “I got unlucky.“
When the theist (or deist) decides to play the game (perhaps against the atheist, of course) it’s a more complex assessment. Why? Because of the intrusion (or intervention, depending upon whether there was a prayoral invitation) of deital influence or control. Someone must win the game, and someone must lose the game.
If the theist wins, the theist might say (depending upon the framework of deital belief), “Thank the Gods for [metaphysically controlling the lottery number pulls / for {speaking to me} {guiding me} {giving me the confidence} {providing wisdom} in my mind to enter the game!]”
Or, if the theist loses, the theist might say, “Oh well, I don’t understand why God {spoke to me} {guided me} {gave me the confidence} {made me foolish} in my mind to enter the game], perhaps God is teaching me something or torturing me for a reason known only to God.”
To the extent that our God the Father (to be respectfully pejorative to make a point, “Daddy God“) is putting us into (or influencing us into) foolish trouble and/or bailing us out from trouble, or metaphysically moving the pieces all around in the game of life, we have introduced an unknowable and uncontrollable variable of thanks or blame for what we do or what is done to us. Anyone can thank or blame god (or the gods), or any other abstract ethereal construct, for anything.
So, for a critical-thinking cerebrally rational review of wisdom and luck, regarding the Causal Decision, Events of Circumstance, and the Resultant Effect, we need to get into the space of the empirical existential decision-making process, thinking for ourselves and leaving our sometimes benevolent, sometimes vengeful, sometimes careful, sometimes careless, sometimes rolling the dice, sometimes game-playing, daddy out of it.
That is, for this purpose, we need to be in the space of complete adult self-responsibility for the Causal Decision, with the Events of Circumstance occurring by nature and natural probabilities, and the Resultant Effect naturally (rather than “supernaturally”) occurring.
If we revisit the lottery example, we notice that I did not mention the amount of the bet. Here is what we know: the rational probabilities of winning the Powerball are highly remote. Someone will win, but as to any player winning, the probabilities are remote. In our space, the Events of Circumstance are what they are, by natural luck: they are absolute within their own space. Whether any person finds the Resultant Effect lucky or unlucky is not a matter of the absolute Events of Circumstance (which is now scoped purely to luck, or chance), but only of the relative impact of the Resultant Effect upon the decision-maker in light of the decision-maker’s intention.
If the decision-maker playing the lottery wagered his retirement savings on the probability of winning, it is a different scenario for application of wisdom than betting a few dollars from a fat wallet, which is a different scenario from betting even a few dollars if those dollars buy a safe taxi ride home from a dangerous location.
In my own experience teaching such things, I will express what I believe is the too common fatal assessment of wisdom and foolishness: a misunderstanding in the application of luck, conflating wisdom. Luck is luck. Wisdom is wisdom. Wisdom avoids (controls the space), uses, or understands luck, but wisdom is not itself luck.
Many of the reasons for failure of a desired result are accidents, that is, luck, within the proper space of luck.
The argument that every act is unwise unless the perfect desired consequence is achieved would cause wisdom to rest on luck, which it cannot do, by definition. Wisdom is a chain of its weakest link. Someone cannot be made wise or a fool in hindsight. To conflate wisdom with luck is untrained error.
A foolish decision that turns out well does not make the decision wise. It simply remains a foolish decision that turned out well. That is, it merely got lucky. Aesop says as much for the crane who pulled the bone from the throat of the wolf. [2, 3] Getting lucky is not the same as being wise. And getting unlucky is not the same as being foolish.
Sages tend to control luck. Fools tend to be controlled by luck. But luck is there for everyone.
I’ll provide a real-world example. Let’s say it’s a big game. Bill Belichick of the Patriots needs to make a decision to punt or go for a first down on 3rd down and 1 yard, on the opponent’s 25 yard line, while losing by 2 points, against a team with a generally weak defense, and fairly strong offense with 1m:59s to go and the opponent has all the time outs. Now let’s say that they calculated a 98% chance of hitting the field goal for 3 points and a 62% chance of getting a first down. If they hit the three points the Patriots are in the lead, but the opponent has time to get a field goal while burning all the clock for a Patriot recovery. If the Patriots get the first down, they have an 86% chance of a touchdown, which will probably win the game.
Now, Belichick will need to make a decision, and “Mr. Rational” tends to think it through. This is a hard decision, because he must calculate future Events of Circumstance that he does not control with a tough set of probabilities.
Now, let’s say he goes for the field goal, trusting his defense in the final two minutes to stop the opponent score. The field goal has a 98% chance, after all. The kicker runs up to kick the ball, conducting a perfect kick. Halfway through the air, a freak unpredictable gust of wind takes the ball sideways for a miss. Everyone’s screaming about the foolish decision. The other team had a weak defense. “OMG, what a fool, why didn’t he go for it!?” Alternatively, let’s say he goes with the much lower 62% chance effectively to secure a win, but there is a freak handoff and the ball gets dropped and recovered for a loss. Everyone’s screaming about the foolish decision, “OMG, what a fool, why didn’t he take the points!?” Or, it might have gone the other way and implemented perfectly with a win either way, “OMG, Bill Belichick is a genius!” But, none of that really matters as a matter of wisdom, to the extent that an accident (lucky, unlucky) occurs within the controlled space.
A lucky bounce does not a genius sage make.
The wisdom of a decision is determined in the moment of making it. Coaches can certainly make foolish decisions, such as any of us, but that’s not the point.
The common view of wisdom is that decisions are wise if they turn out well and foolish if they do not turn out well, which is often conflation with luck.
Now, if we we make decisions against rationality, by bias, prejudice, emotion, etc. (prayer, trust, hope), we can still get lucky, but that does not make the decision wise. [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]
A good result may be the salve for a foolish decision, but it still remains a foolish decision that got lucky. How many times do we hear someone say, “Why did I do that? What was I thinking?” But not so for the sage, who says, “Yeah, it went sideways, but I know exactly why I did what I did when I did it. A hard result but now I’ve got new probabilities.“
This is why the sage, under control of clarity, discipline and self-responsibility, is contented in bad situations—or even through the vicissitudes of life—understanding the application of luck (chance). But the fool is ever on a miserable roller coaster of ups and downs, no better or worse than the uncontrolled luck, bouncing around like a pinball of circumstance, and not understanding why.
Sure, even a sage can pray or hope for good luck or divine metaphysical intercession, within the proper space for it where it cannot otherwise be controlled, but the sage does not rely upon it, understanding the nature of things. But, woe to the sorry hapless childish fool who relies upon daddy being in a good mood.
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[2] Epilogue: On the Wisdom of Aesop [GRZ_24]
[3] Trusting the People, Trusting the Deal – The Business of Aesop™ No. 13 – The Wolf and the Crane
[5] Hope, Prayer, Trust and Reliance Upon Luck; Or, the Ignoble Handouts Oft by Noble Emotions
[6] Leadership and the Audacity of Hope
[7] Entrepreneurial Hope, and Lust for Smart Love
[8] Hiring on Hope – The Business of Aesop™ No. 90 – The Cat-Maiden
[11] The Duty of Trust – Stand for America®
[12] The Proseuché (The Prayer of Socrates)
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© 2023 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wisdom-luck-getting-lucky-unlucky-same-being-wise-zegarelli-esq-
The statements or opinions made in this article are solely the author’s own and not representative of any institution regarding which the author is affiliated.