Qu'est-ce que la chance?

Keith,
It’s interesting that I actually thought of you enjoying this post when I posted it on facebook, because I always wonder who will notice the posts I put on there out of all my friends. I remembered how you enjoyed similar posts in the PAU that I would send you.
It was really good to get this response then and see the train of thought it provoked. Reading your post led me very closely back to a train of thought I have been on myself which relates to the first post you got on facebook (from me)… Darwinism and Richard Dawkins’ series of programmes on Channel 4 about evolution and the God Delusion.
That video might represent all the species that have survived throughout evolution and well… I’m not sure if the “FUNNIEST HOME MOVIES” videos could represent those who haven’t survived as they all seem to survive despite getting hit by various domestic and other appliances 🙂
Also I’ve always found it interesting the meaning of the same words in different languages. In this case… chance meaning luck in french and the word chance in English. what do the words mean in the different cultures?
Luck seems to imply something thats’ out of your control whereas
Chance seems to imply an opportunity which is there to be taken if you decide to take it… (if you take the word in its singular sense as in “a chance”)
…its the difference between assigning responsibility to someone/thing else like a God or spirits or forces
and taking responsibility for all the things that you can control
So to answer your question, I think we largely make our own luck but we live in a world where we can get into situations where we need other people to help make our luck for us.
If you go by Dawkins’ argument, we’re actually genetically programmed to make each others’ luck – to have empathy for eachother… it’s one of the main components of our evolution, but one of the things which seems to be being discarded in our modern societies…
My question is, will we realise the need for human empathy and close knit supportive groups and societies soon enough before there is some form of break down in society which will be difficult to fix in the vastness of todays’ economy led global society?
Maybe the groups which are forming online will provide some pathway forward to being true to our empathetic genes? Its great to see how complete strangers can interact so deeply when they have certain things in common. These interactions can only get richer and more meaningful as technology facilitates our senses to greater degrees…
Another question comes to mind…
how do these interactions online of people living in modern societies compare to the interactions which people were able to have in a small village in societies a century ago pre-World Wars?
how much empathy is felt in different ways in the different peoples lives in the different eras?