Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

A manifesto for a good life?


pantodragon

Recommended Posts

I don't know where the quote comes from, but, anyway, "Given a choice between smarts and luck, choose luck."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know where the quote comes from, but, anyway, "Given a choice between smarts and luck, choose luck."

Luck is fickle and statistically random. You can't rely on it. Smarts is consistent and always pays off. Over a life time i can earn a lot more from smarts for example, than by winning a lottery or two. But smarts is also an evolutionary benefit; a form of fitness. Luck comes from outside and can't be relied on like internal skills knowledge and discipline.

You get smart and it passes down to others, either genetically or via learned knowledge and sjkills. In the development of smarts you develop your self, and gain other benefits. Luck gives nothing else but the luck itself.

Dumb people have realy bad luck. (In reality, a consequence of bad/poor decisions)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luck is fickle and statistically random. You can't rely on it. Smarts is consistent and always pays off. Over a life time i can earn a lot more from smarts for example, than by winning a lottery or two. But smarts is also an evolutionary benefit; a form of fitness. Luck comes from outside and can't be relied on like internal skills knowledge and discipline.

You get smart and it passes down to others, either genetically or via learned knowledge and sjkills. In the development of smarts you develop your self, and gain other benefits. Luck gives nothing else but the luck itself.

Dumb people have realy bad luck. (In reality, a consequence of bad/poor decisions)

Smarts, hard work, and paying attention has always worked for me. I've never been lucky, maybe because I don't need to be. Definition of luck: when opportunity meets preparation.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stick to what you've said, sure, but realize you've made a judgment about someone who you've never met, never heard of, based on almost no information, wrapped up a lifetime of about 75 years in a couple of sentences, without ever bothering to ask questions or inform yourself. Your arrogance is breath-taking, really.

When I see a trunk emerging from a bush, I know there's an elephant in there. I don't need to see the rest of the animal. In other words, there are certain identifying features which allow one to recognise the nature of the beast --- you supplied the identifying features.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know where the quote comes from, but, anyway, "Given a choice between smarts and luck, choose luck."

That was obviously written by somebody who was as thick as two short planks. If I was as thick as two short planks I'd opt for luck too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Come on, folks, give me some credit. Which would you rather be -- lucky all the time or smart all the time? You have to compare apples to apples, not lucky sometimes but always smart.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Come on, folks, give me some credit. Which would you rather be -- lucky all the time or smart all the time? You have to compare apples to apples, not lucky sometimes but always smart.

Well I answered as smart all the time and gave reasons why. Smart brings ancillary benefits and improves your abilities in everything. Luck does not.

You cant take credit for it, you didnt earn it, and so it is inferior to smarts. If you are smart enough, all the time, you simply won't have bad luck beause really there is no such thing Be smart enough and you will avoid every pitfall which others attribute to "bad luck" Also, luck is responsive whereas smarts is proactive. You can use it to plan and work towards an aim or a goal. Luck wont put that aim or goal in your head to start with but smarts will. Having a million dollar win on a lottery every week is useless if you dont have the wisdom to use it well and wisely. And luck is by nature fickle even if constant For example to have the most beautiful woman in the world fall in love with oyu might seem lucky but is it really One wil have to wait and see. Winning a humdred million dollars might also seem lucky but is it? How will it effect how you feel, your motivaitons and desires? Will it prevent you continung in a fairly mundane job which might eventually have brought you great success, pride and respect.

I think a perpetually lucky person would also require the good fortune to be perpetually deluded about the reality of their life and wh t made them happy As another example a man could be always happy in life but only because he was mentally immature or unaware consisder happness to be a supreme goal but not under such conditions, It must be self aware, chosen or self constructed, or informed happiness, to counted as such.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I see a trunk emerging from a bush, I know there's an elephant in there. I don't need to see the rest of the animal. In other words, there are certain identifying features which allow one to recognise the nature of the beast --- you supplied the identifying features.

Meh, there's no talking to you, you don't want a conversation, you want a fight, and you want to be right. I'll just get out of your way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mr. Walker, you make some good points. I think I have gotten in the habit over my life of saying I prefer luck over smarts as a sort of humility. When something goes well, it can be because you did it intelligently or because you were lucky. The truth may be the former but its smart to credit the latter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luck is having 60 million sperm swarm one egg and your it. Luck is hand picking the lotto numbers and winning the rest is just happentance. Is chance also called luck. I see a guy hit by a car is in the hospital for 3 months to a year and I call that unlucky and some might say it was lucky they lived. Luck is but percpective. Was I lucky to live as a quadrapalegic or was I unlucky to be hit by that car.

Edited by The Silver Thong
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mr. Walker, you make some good points. I think I have gotten in the habit over my life of saying I prefer luck over smarts as a sort of humility. When something goes well, it can be because you did it intelligently or because you were lucky. The truth may be the former but its smart to credit the latter.

Why? is that a cultural value? Is being smart seen as inferior or less accpetable to being lucky?

. I know that in, Astrlaia we tend to look down on smart people. while putting sports people on a pedestal One should be truthful not modest or immodest when things work because of natural ability combined with intelligence effort discipline etc. One should acknolwedge this. I am samrt and glad I am smart. It would be more accpetable in my culture to be a succesful sportsperson, and i do understand the discipline and effort that goes into such success, but to me, being the best i can be is important and what I expect from myslef. It is important because it, (being smart and capable) allows me to do more for my community and for other people around the world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luck is having 60 million sperm swarm one egg and your it. Luck is hand picking the lotto numbers and winning the rest is just happentance. Is chance also called luck. I see a guy hit by a car is in the hospital for 3 months to a year and I call that unlucky and some might say it was lucky they lived. Luck is but percpective. Was I lucky to live as a quadrapalegic or was I unlucky to be hit by that car.

Lol. lots of guys would say your first example was very bad luck. :devil: Is there any such thing as chance? Police in my state teach kids that there is no such thing as a road accident because almost every such incident could have been avoided with a little thought and care before hand. Its not an accident when you are speeding and crash, or too tired and crash, or drunk/drugged and crash. It is a consequence of preventable behaviours. Perhaps the only true road accident is where a person has a heart attack or similar at the wheel, despite apparent good health, and those in my state are not counted among traffic accidents or deaths/injuries
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lol. lots of guys would say your first example was very bad luck. :devil: Is there any such thing as chance? Police in my state teach kids that there is no such thing as a road accident because almost every such incident could have been avoided with a little thought and care before hand. Its not an accident when you are speeding and crash, or too tired and crash, or drunk/drugged and crash. It is a consequence of preventable behaviours. Perhaps the only true road accident is where a person has a heart attack or similar at the wheel, despite apparent good health, and those in my state are not counted among traffic accidents or deaths/injuries

The only possible way to avoid such accidients would be for us to have a hive mind. The only people that want us to believe that things happen out of our control are insurance companys and god. Both are based on the same princible sinning can`t be a mistake nore can driver error an error. Both are forgiven are they not as long as we have faith.

Your police may teach there is no such thing as a mistake and they would be 100% wrong. Yet god forgives us all of 100% of our mistakes as long as we accept Jessus.

I could also add over 500 cops making mistakes that they teach should not happen in less then 20 min. All made by cops

Edited by The Silver Thong
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I consider myself highly intelligent, and have the academic and career credentials and financal success to prove it. Still, here I sit pretty much confined to my house with diabetes and heart disease and chronic hepatitis B (widespread in Vietnam). Right now I could stand some luck. I learned early on in my career never to mention my degrees, or the languages I speak, and so on. When people would comment, say, on my English, I would just say that I was lucky to have an English teacher for a father and was fortunate to be able to go to univeristy in the States (although I chose, perhaps not so wisely but emotionally, to return to Vietnam when war began).

Is this false humility? I suppose, but it is also just being smart, and, more important, not being arrogant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I consider myself highly intelligent, and have the academic and career credentials and financal success to prove it. Still, here I sit pretty much confined to my house with diabetes and heart disease and chronic hepatitis B (widespread in Vietnam). Right now I could stand some luck. I learned early on in my career never to mention my degrees, or the languages I speak, and so on. When people would comment, say, on my English, I would just say that I was lucky to have an English teacher for a father and was fortunate to be able to go to univeristy in the States (although I chose, perhaps not so wisely but emotionally, to return to Vietnam when war began).

Is this false humility? I suppose, but it is also just being smart, and, more important, not being arrogant.

I have to say In the short time I have followed your posts you have me hanging on the next one. I care little about your education let alone where you are from. I suffer from a few things that hold me back from expressing myself fully and from your posts I can tell you are far more educated than me. I myself more orless express opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only possible way to avoid such accidients would be for us to have a hive mind. The only people that want us to believe that things happen out of our control are insurance companys and god. Both are based on the same princible sinning can`t be a mistake nore can driver error an error. Both are forgiven are they not as long as we have faith.

Your police may teach there is no such thing as a mistake and they would be 100% wrong. Yet god forgives us all of 100% of our mistakes as long as we accept Jessus.

I could also add over 500 cops making mistakes that they teach should not happen in less then 20 min. All made by cops

All statistical studies, including the very detailed work done on every fatal and serious road accident in australia show that almost every 'road accident" was preventable, and was caused by humans not acting very intelligently. Working on that basis we have consistently reduced road accidents and fatalities/serious injuries.

I am not a religious man so i wont comment on your religious allegory about sin, but as a humanist I KNOW that humans can stop their destructive behaviours No one has to drink and drive go above the speed limit or drive when tired (the causes of about 80% of all australian road accidents.We all have built in abilities to discipline and control our selves and to make logical sensible decisions. Any other belief is a cop out which tries to deny human repsonsibilty for all our flaws and failings as individuals and a race. The prime responsibility of a human being is to recognise and accepet responsibilty for every action they take, and not blame another, or circumstance,like rain fog etc., or loss of emotional control etc. Such excuses are pathetic and unacceptable. They are certainly unacceptable under australian law. If you are capable of getting a driver's licence, you have to be mature and responsible enough not to drive when it is dangerous, or when you are not completely capable of doing so safely. If you cant manage that everytime you drive, then you should be locked up or stopped from driving before you kill or injure someone else, Because inevitably, given time, if you drive like that, you will do so.

(you in this post doesn't refer to you personally but is used generically)

I dont know about god, but our police won't forgive your contribution to any road incident, however much you might think it was all an "accident". They will, with mathematical precision, explain to you how your driving contributed to the crash, and how you could have prevented it with a different attitude and approach to your driving, cycling, or walking, on the road.

For example a growing number of pedestrians are killed crossing roads and train tracks wearing an ear bud. Such behaviour CAUSES "accidents", and many "accidents" could be prevented if people could hear the environment around them. This also applies to loud music and the use of telephones while driving a car.

Edited by Mr Walker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All statistical studies, including the very detailed work done on every fatal and serious road accident in australia show that almost every 'road accident" was preventable, and was caused by humans not acting very intelligently. Working on that basis we have consistently reduced road accidents and fatalities/serious injuries.

I am not a religious man so i wont comment on your religious allegory about sin, but as a humanist I KNOW that humans can stop their destructive behaviours No one has to drink and drive go above the speed limit or drive when tired (the causes of about 80% of all australian road accidents.We all have built in abilities to discipline and control our selves and to make logical sensible decisions. Any other belief is a cop out which tries to deny human repsonsibilty for all our flaws and failings as individuals and a race. The prime responsibility of a human being is to recognise and accepet responsibilty for every action they take, and not blame another, or circumstance,like rain fog etc., or loss of emotional control etc. Such excuses are pathetic and unacceptable. They are certainly unacceptable under australian law. If you are capable of getting a driver's licence, you have to be mature and responsible enough not to drive when it is dangerous, or when you are not completely capable of doing so safely. If you cant manage that everytime you drive, then you should be locked up or stopped from driving before you kill or injure someone else.

So what would you say if I added into the equation simple human error or is that not in the equation. Mechanical errors equate to humman errors. To say an accident or human error never should happen you better start a movement of 3 people and see how far that goes. We are ment to error and learn from it and if you think we can see the future to prevent all accidents unless you see them as ententianal accidiendts start a law that prevents mistakes and halt everything that moves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So what would you say if I added into the equation simple human error or is that not in the equation. Mechanical errors equate to humman errors. To say an accident or human error never should happen you better start a movement of 3 people and see how far that goes. We are ment to error and learn from it and if you think we can see the future to prevent all accidents unless you see them as ententianal accidiendts start a law that prevents mistakes and halt everything that moves.

Define human error? No I do not accept that humans are "meant to " make mistakes. A mistake is just that, an action which is not correct. Most mistakes can be avoided with a little thought and care Eg driving while drunk, tired, or distracted is a mistake, and often fatal. And all 3 are TOTALLY avoidable. It just depends wha tdecisions you make but no one EVER has to drive while tired or drunk or distracted..

Staying in a car where the driver is drunk or speeding is a mistake and a stupid one. Young people (14 plus) are being taught strategies to be able to succesfully exit from a car where a mate is drunk or angry and driving. The most successful is, "Stop mate, I feel really crook and I'm about to puke." Most young men dont like the idea of their car being filled with vomit and so will stop, allowing you to exit the vehicle with a good excuse..

I guess what I (and the police) are saying is that, yes a lot of accidents (almost all in fact) are due to human error, but that all "human error" is preventable by its very nature. There are a very few true accidents due to mechanical failure but many of these are also preventable eg by having decent tyres and maintaining your vehicle. Even if a fly flies into your eye, if you are driving to the conditions around you, then you should be able to avoid an accident, or at least minimise its effects.

25 January 2012

In 2011, Australia recorded the lowest number of road deaths since 1946, down to about a third of the deaths recorded at the peak in 1970. Over the past 10 years annual fatalities on Australian roads have fallen by almost 26 per cent.

http://www.minister.infrastructure.gov.au/ck/releases/2012/january/ck001_2012.aspx

5. Unintended driver error, excessive speed and alcohol or drugs remained the three most frequently recorded major factors in fatal crashes throughout the last two decades.

http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/2011/files/is_041.pdf

Edited by Mr Walker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Define human error? No I do not accept that humans are "meant to " make mistakes. A mistake is just that, an action which is not correct. Most mistakes can be avoided with a little thought and care Eg driving while drunk, tired, or distracted is a mistake, and often fatal. And all 3 are TOTALLY avoidable. It just depends wha tdecisions you make but no one EVER has to drive while tired or drunk or distracted..

Staying in a car where the driver is drunk or speeding is a mistake and a stupid one. Young people (14 plus) are being taught strategies to be able to succesfully exit from a car where a mate is drunk or angry and driving. The most successful is, "Stop mate, I feel really crook and I'm about to puke." Most young men dont like the idea of their car being filled with vomit and so will stop, allowing you to exit the vehicle with a good excuse..

Get past the drinking and driving and tell us you have never made human error or that you made a mistake and I will call you a flat out lier. To err is human and if not for the million mistakes we have made we would have no progress. Just think if it wasn`t for the invention of indoor plumbing that the Romans invented you might be wiping your ass with your left hand.

I will bet you right know in the last few years I have known you the internet and cell phones has increaced your moralality. Don`t lie it has.

What makes a good life Mr.Walker

Edited by The Silver Thong
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Get past the drinking and driving and tell us you have never made human error or that you made a mistake and I will call you a flat out lier. To err is human and if not for the million mistakes we have made we would have no progress. Just think if it wasn`t for the invention of indoor plumbing that the Romans invented you might be wiping your ass with your left hand.

I will bet you right know in the last few years I have known you the internet and cell phones has increaced your moralality. Don`t lie it has.

What makes a good life Mr.Walker

I make very few errors and mostly minor ones. In 45 years of driving I have had 3 speeding tickets and a total of about 2000 dollars of accidental damage to the cars I drive. So i am not perfect, but if everyone drove that well, there would be no fatal accidents no serious injuries, and no need for a huge insurance industry in Australiaand before you ask i drive every day of the week and average 20000 to 30000 kilometres every year. I have driven from one side of Australia to the other and from bottom to top and back again, and only had a broken window from a thrown up stone.

I have hit a cow let out onto a rainy road on a dark night, a dog and several kangaroos. I have had near misses with horses reindeer and many other animals. Some of these were avoidable. if i had been really careful (although it is hard to do anything about a big buck kangaroo jumping out of the bush onto your car at night tim,e) but in general i survived because i was driving within my own limitations and the conditios a tthe time eg when i hit the cow i was only doing about 50 k on a highway because it was wet and visibilty was poor. According to the crash investigators, If id been going 10 ks faste r i could easily have been killed or badly injured. I was driving an army landrover with big bull bars which were crumpled right back into the vehicle, and it was forced into a 180 degree turn as i drove down the road. When I hit the big kangaroo on a local dirt road i was only doing about 40 ks for the same reasons and so, despite the kangaroo landing in our laps, we avoided injury.

One doesnt have to make ones own mistakes to improve and learn. One can learn from the previous mistakes of others I dont even comprehend your last point

Edited by Mr Walker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I make very few errors and mostly minor ones. In 45 years of driving I have had 3 speeding tickets and a total of about 2000 dollars of accidental damage to the cars I drive. So i am not perfect, but if everyone drove that well, there would be no fatal accidents no serious injuries, and no need for a huge insurance industry in Australiaand before you ask i drive every day of the week and average 20000 to 30000 kilometres every year. I have driven from one side of Australia to the other and from bottom to top and back again, and only had a broken window from a thrown up stone.

I have hit a cow let out onto a rainy road on a dark night, a dog and several kangaroos. I have had near misses with horses reindeer and many other animals. Some of these were avoidable. if i had been really careful (although it is hard to do anything about a big buck kangaroo jumping out of the bush onto your car at night tim,e) but in general i survived because i was driving within my own limitations and the conditios a tthe time eg when i hit the cow i was only doing about 50 k on a highway because it was wet and visibilty was poor. According to the crash investigators, If id been going 10 ks faste r i could easily have been killed or badly injured. I was driving an army landrover with big bull bars which were crumpled right back into the vehicle, and it was forced into a 180 degree turn as i drove down the road. When I hit the big kangaroo on a local dirt road i was only doing about 40 ks for the same reasons and so, despite the kangaroo landing in our laps, we avoided injury.

One doesnt have to make ones own mistakes to improve and learn. One can learn from the previous mistakes of others I dont even comprehend your last point

You have wild reindeer, thats so cool.

So a wild animal in front of your car, some call that an act of god and some say dumb luck. I at the age of 7 living in northern B.C. Canada had many and 2 I can call very scary with the griz, both times I stood my ground at 7 and 28 yrs of age. I have been charged by 12 foot moose and I have charged them. I have pets aka one thats a 10 ft python, never bit me, but have owned many snakes and have been bittin, my bad called a mistake. I ride a dirt bike and I`m old lol what is your point. Human error is a part of us and no matter your iq we all have a Darwin award ready for us. If not man would have never explores space or the speed of 39 mph lol

You have 3 more speeding tickets than me

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My last point Mr.Walker was what makes a good life the tittle of the thread. I for one wish for much more but it has not been as fun as I wanted. I will live with it as it`s better then most.

If one can`t learn from there own mistakes they are retarded to some extent.

Edited by The Silver Thong
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have wild reindeer, thats so cool.

So a wild animal in front of your car, some call that an act of god and some say dumb luck. I at the age of 7 living in northern B.C. Canada had many and 2 I can call very scary with the griz, both times I stood my ground at 7 and 28 yrs of age. I have been charged by 12 foot moose and I have charged them. I have pets aka one thats a 10 ft python, never bit me, but have owned many snakes and have been bittin, my bad called a mistake. I ride a dirt bike and I`m old lol what is your point. Human error is a part of us and no matter your iq we all have a Darwin award ready for us. If not man would have never explores space or the speed of 39 mph lol

You have 3 more speeding tickets than me

LOL not wild reindeer. They escaped from a farm.like the horses and cows. Lots of reinder farms around here (well some sort of deer anyway) They looked just like reindeer. So you have not made an error in speeding. (or you have not been caught)

I went until i was fifty before getting picked up. I was racing into town to pick up a present from my mum for my fiftieth, and went 85 ks through an 80 k zone, but I didnt use that as an excuse. One time I was taking a sick person to hospital, but still i shouldnt have been speeding. It was a roadside camera, whereas a policeman might have not booked me in the circumstances. The other time I had cruise control on, but was talking to my mum as we drove to a wedding 650 ks away, and lost concentration and put my foot on the accelerator. I was doing 116ks in a 110 k zone when a police car coming the other way along the highway picked me up. So yes I make mistakes, but not many. And in 45 years of driving I've NEVER had a parking ticket or fine.

As to the last point My fault. i meant this comment

I will bet you right know in the last few years I have known you the internet and cell phones has increaced your moralality. Don`t lie it has.

I dont understand what you mean. How or why could the internet or a mobile phone (Which by the way I neither possess nor own) have the slightest affect on a values based morality i developed as a philosophical basis for life?

If anything how could it increase my morality and ethical standards. From observation of people it DECREASES most peoples' honesty, integrity, and ethical standards, perhaps only by increasing availabilty and opportunity to be less moral and ethical.

Edited by Mr Walker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know what really grinds my gears?

http://youtu.be/dHtRnOXXZ0w

LOL! good rant, pretty ****ty advice for your friend though, mix with "ideal" people so you conform to being "ideal" yourself. Modeling has acomplished anerixia with that approach. Your friend with ADD should be guided to focusing or finding reasons to focus and/or subreasons to fulfill the less willing tasks. It's the same technique you blasted just a different scenario. What gives you right to declear what is "ideal"? What judgement or who's judgement should I say determines what "ideal" is. "Healthy" has led to trending of primary school aged people drinking protien shakes yeah let's see the gym junkie generation live past 40 with their shotty overworked hearts.

Each to their own opinion in this case, it's exactly the same pitch and self help spoon the rest of the 10minute writing society is coming up with. A different scene of author will attract a different crowd, realistically preeching the same nonsense.

Let the peons that wanna spoon feed his crap to gold polishing techniques. The more you realise it happens the less it will offend you, just about every ****ty backward looper querk can be seen plainly like this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True. But many atheists, whilst not denying that religion has conferred benefits, cannot ignore the great harm that has been done (and still is done) in it's name. Like any ideology, uncritical and unthinking adherence to religious dogma is a huge black mark against it.

Now if only we could distill the good from the unnecessary belief in the supernatural :whistle:

Bs arbienol, you know as well as I do that humans are gong to do what they are going to do do with or without religion. Our great capacity over nature is creativity for good or Ill. Whistle all you want. But there are many dogmas that have nothing to do with the 'super ' natural. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.