Sunday, December 27, 2009

Karma vs. Statistics

I'm not a big believer in karma, but I do believe in statistics, if that makes any sense at all.

In a literal sense, when it comes to baseball, basketball and football, I'm much more apt to believe a statistical-perspective of, say, Baseball Prospectus, than scouts and idiots like Joe Morgan who once played baseball. Oddly, I think this is related to my own writing "talent". I've never considered myself much of a writer, but I get paid to do it for work, and got good grades for it through high school and college. Therefore, I must be doing something write (ha ha, get it, I made an error on purpose). However, I couldn't really tell someone else how I do it, not with any certainty, and likewise, I think it's silly that we rely on Morgan, John Kruk, Fernando Vina and others to give us the scoop on what Major League Baseball players are doing wrong, at least when there is statistical evidence proving them wrong.

But, in the non-sports world, I don't think karma exists. I don't believe there is a cosmic force balancing right and wrong. However, I do believe that statistics still apply - You simply can't keep doing, for lack of a better term, bad things, forever. At some point, things catch up with you.

I love watching TruTV, and especially their Forensic Files and Masterminds series. Basically, after 11, when most stations switch to crap, both of these shows are on all the time, and are fantastic. And I'm always struck by how, especially on Masterminds, everyone eventually gets caught. As far as I know, there have only been two major cases that were never solved - Who stole the French crown jewels, and who D.B. Cooper was. I'm sure there is some minor stuff that I'm not aware of, but for the most part, if you do bad, you eventually get caught.

... This is a bit of a rambling post. Sorry. I was just thinking about all of this lately because of personal stuff going on in my own life. I've had some bad luck lately, and I'm just waiting for it to equalize out a bit. I try my best to fight through it by making my own luck, but hey, sometimes you need some chance - some karma, or better yet, statistics - on your side too. Random philosophy out.

The image is from this blog.

4 comments:

  1. That asshat Cal in Titanic says that a real man makes his own luck. We then find out that though he used a poor little girl to get off the sinking boat, he puts a pistol in his mouth when the market crashes in the 30s.

    What I'm trying to say is, if you try to make your own luck, you might be a suicidal douchebag.

    =) No seriously, I hope whatever it is you're working through turns around. It all gets better eventually.

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  2. haha, You'll be glad to hear that I did finally watch Titanic the other night. It was the Rifftrax (new MST3K project) version, but still, I got the gist of the movie and what not. It was surprisingly decent, although I would prefer a slew of other romance and romantic comedy movies over it because it is so ungodly long and drawn-out.

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  3. Random philosophy out.

    Nice touch, mate. Good luck to you.

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  4. Thanks, chap! I have a feeling things are on the verge of changing. Although, in retrospect, I feel like a bit of a puss typing all of this out... I will have to compensate by writing something about scars and monster truck pulls tomorrow.

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Try not to be too much of an ass, unless completely necessary. You are subject to tyrannical moderation.

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