# Luck and Equal Outcomes By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-01-11 There is a force in the universe called luck. If you flip a coin and it comes up heads, I'll give you a dollar. If it comes up tails, you give me a dollar. What happens if we play this game for a long time? If the odds of heads or tails are equal, some may believe this game will last forever. However, neither you nor I have infinite resources. So, one of us will go broke. Is this fair? Well, everything about the coin tossing is fair, and money is paid fairly. So, yes, it is fair. Yet, you end up with all my money, and I end up on the street. This is the nature of [[luck]] and the universe. Even equivalent starting circumstances can result in extremely divergent outcomes. The first question is whether you think you got to where you are because you are good or just lucky. In all likelihood, it's a bit of both. The second question is whether you are perpetuating the inequities or fighting them. Yes, yelling into the wind and screaming at the universe is often futile, but it doesn't mean we should stop trying. Sisyphus pushed that boulder up the hill for a reason. The goal is progress. The goal is solidarity with your fellow humans who got kicked in the face by the universe, and likely human systems along the way. #### Related Items [[Probability]] [[Systems Thinking]] [[Solidarity]] [[Diversity]]