Is chance a causal agency ? Does chance have being? Can it be a cause of anything?

Question

Is it chance that produces the result of a coin toss, or is it weight,velocity,time,and force of gravity? Is there a being named Chance? So that it exerts power? Does chance exert any power at all? If you have a chance meeting, that means it was unplanned not without cause, for although it was unplanned and unexpected, it still happened because it had a cause, only you were not aware of it . The cause was your friend being there and his reason for being there, and you were both there for various reasons or causes. The meeting was caused by these separate independent factors. So if I say I met my friend by chance, what am I really saying? Answer, that I ran into him unexpectedly. So if I say as some are in the habit of saying, the Universe was created by chance, what does that really mean? Am I saying the universe was created by unexpectedly? If Chance is a description then it is descriptive and not a person or a place or a thing. I ask is such a description the cause of anything?

Answer 1

Even if we believe in randomness, chance is still not a causal agent... chance is merely a random selection of cause. Chance or luck or fate is the name we give to our inability to ascertain the causal factors, more often than not to excuse ourselves.

Answer 2

Chance is how we view that which is unpredictable due to an uniformed perspective. Technically speaking, if a person was skilled enough, he could flip a coin 100 times in a row for the desired result.

A lucky person, therefore, is someone who is naturally in tune with his environment usually by intuitive means. He doesn't KNOW why he's lucky or what makes it so, he just behaves in a way which induces advantageous results.

As far as universal forces are concerned, you could say that gravity, the electroweak, and strong nuclear forces were all created at the big bang but have different values in different universes (hence suggesting that a different desired result is behind each universe). Remember, these forces are perceived and compared against standards from different sides. The universe is only as big as it expands and internal observers can only compare it to distances within the universe. Still, we objectively cannot tell if it is the distance is increasing, or if our own size that is decreasing since it would look the same.

So back to your own question, chance is made up of those forces which cannot be understood or measured without other forms of measurement or further investment whether it's predicting and election result or trying to find out the talents a baby will grow up to have. Chance is therefore effectively an assigned LABEL for a definite set of factors, but doesn't actually exist. The factors it represents can cause results, but chance itself doesn't exist anymore than a spirit did in aboriginal beliefs to prove how the sun goes up and why birds can fly.

Answer 3

"Chance" is an abstract idea. To learn about it study Probability Theory the knowledge of which will be useful to you in your entire life.
For example: in playing Bridge there are 2 teams. Each player gets 13 cards. If you and your Partner have 8 cards of one suit, there is a 68% chance that the remaining 5 cards are divided 3-2. Knowing this will help you win games. But it also applies in other spheres of life. If you are the leader of a group of 13 kids and 5 get lost there is a 68% chance that that group is divided into two groups, one of 3 kids and the other 2 kids. This can be of use insofar you have reason to believe that at least there is not a kid on its own out there. Note that the odds I quote here are purely mathematical. There are other circumstances to be considered. The way a coin comes down is physics. Whether it comes up heads or tails is a matter of chance. The more you toss a coin the more the ratio of heads and tails will converge toward 1. For me this is an indication that the Universe is guided by an Intelligence, whatever name you give it.

Answer 4

Study quantum mechanics. Chance is essential at the quantum level. Your computer wouldn't work if it weren't true. At the macroscopic level, things tend to average out, but even then, some systems display a "exquisite sensitivity to initial conditions".

Your meeting the friend by "chance" relies on your being in the same place at the same time. A thirty second delat shouldn't affect the outcome, but it could. What if that thirty seconds results in getting stuck for a minute at a light. That results in your getting stuck behind a slow truck causing you to miss the next light. Those little things could prevent you from meeting your friend.

The connection between the quantum and the macroscopic level is not well characterized, so I would characterize any link as educated speculation. In summary, definitely at the quantum level and possibly at the macroscopic level, chance is a real entity.

Answer 5

the number of your questions dictate a formal treatment instead of merely an answer to one question, however i will try to hone in on your central meaning as best i can. chance = destiny= fate= and any other various synonyms, ESSENTIALY, there is no difference, the closest concept you could actually make a distinction with would be statistical randomnity, or probability and odds. the latter is purely mathematical, the former sophistry and psuedo philosophy, to which are you referring?