Do you believe in fate?

[johnbhoy76]

I'm a believer in science.  So no - fate would go against what I understand about maths and physics.

However, I do believe that some people appear to be inherently lucky, but that's something else completely.

Surely if you believe in luck then that contradicts your belief in science?

[kinboshi]

I'm a believer in science.  So no - fate would go against what I understand about maths and physics.

However, I do believe that some people appear to be inherently lucky, but that's something else completely.

Surely if you believe in luck then that contradicts your belief in science?

Absolutely not.  Luck is the result of an unpredictable or unknown event.  You might be able to influence it, or improve your chances of the 'luck' producing a favourable outcome for you - but it's all within scientific logic.

I'm a massive believer in luck - and a believer that if it comes your way, you make the most of it.  Poker contains a large element of luck, but with the correct application of maths and strategy you can try and make the probability of events favouring you higher by making them less unpredictable or unknown.  You can shove all in pre-flop  with 72o and win the hand with luck, but you're more likely to win with AA.  The final outcome still contains elements of luck as the outcome is not pre-determined.

Luck, probabilty, chance, uncertainty.  All part of science.

[FlyingPig]

A thread on Fate and another on God v Evolution on the same day... I hate to say it, but it must of been fate.

[M3boy]

A thread on Fate and another on God v Evolution on the same day... I hate to say it, but it must of been fate.

Apologies, that was not my intention at all, I have debated that topic many many times (mostly while drunk this is true.....) but weather your belief is God or Evolution does not matter, where did THEY come from? THAT is the debate

[redimp]

This has all gone abit deep for me.

The reason I posted in the first place was because..

I see very little of my parents,even tho they only live a 20 minutes away from me,not because we have fallen out with them, it's just the way it is.My Dad worked really hard when we were  kids and to be honest, he really did not have alot of time for my Mum or us kids and now seems to be making up for lost time with my Mum taking her here there and everywhere.

Over the last few months the children and I have bumped into them all the time,all down to because .. I moved the car from one carpark to another,went back to the car because I had left the sunroof open,was somewhere I shouldn't be, but was just because an ATM was out of action!

I say to the girls "that's fate" we would have never seen them if we hadn't moved the car etc...

I don't really know why things happen,but I'm sure they happen for a reason,as alot of you know we lost a son (Sam) aged 3 weeks,it was the worst time in our lives as am sure you can all imagine.

I became pregnant very shortly after we lost Sam,and all the cynical people said it is too soon!!

I think fate took its hand,and gave us jazz,she is 10 now!!

I thank you all for your views

And I hope you have found it an intresting debate


Take care now
Shelly xx

[Poppet7]

I believe in fate, definitely.

I was due to go on holiday in December 2000 with my Mum and Sister, but I really didn't want to go so Mum booked a different holiday to go to Malta in April 2001 instead. That's where I met Leon, who I have been with for 6 years now and I believe that is fate.

[RED-DOG]

It seems to me that the question is more about how you define fate rather than if you believe in it.

Poppet goes on Holiday and meets someone, she calls it fate. If she goes on the original Holiday she meets someone different, but 6 years later she still calls it fate.

[AndrewT]

It seems to me that the question is more about how you define fate rather than if you believe in it.

Poppet goes on Holiday and meets someone, she calls it fate. If she goes on the original Holiday she meets someone different, but 6 years later she still calls it fate.

Yeah, no one has explained to me exactly what fate is. It seem to be 'something which happens which leads to something else happening', which is just cause and effect (which of course I know exists).

[Claw75]

From dictionary.com (the definitions at 2 and 3 sum up my understanding of fate):

fate      /feɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[feyt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, fat·ed, fat·ing.
–noun 1. something that unavoidably befalls a person; fortune; lot: It is always his fate to be left behind. 
2. the universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably prescribed; the decreed cause of events; time: Fate decreed that they would never meet again. 
3. that which is inevitably predetermined; destiny: Death is our ineluctable fate. 
4. a prophetic declaration of what must be: The oracle pronounced their fate. 
5. death, destruction, or ruin. 
6. the Fates, Classical Mythology. the three goddesses of destiny, known to the Greeks as the Moerae and to the Romans as the Parcae. 
–verb (used with object) 7. to predetermine, as by the decree of fate; destine (used in the passive): a person who was fated to be the savior of the country. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1325–75; ME < L fātum utterance, decree of fate, destiny, orig. neut. of fātus, ptp. of fārī to speak]


—Synonyms 1. karma, kismet; chance, luck. Fate, destiny, doom refer to the idea of a fortune, usually adverse, that is predetermined and inescapable. The three words are frequently interchangeable. Fate stresses the irrationality and impersonal character of events: It was Napoleon's fate to be exiled. The word is often lightly used, however: It was my fate to meet her that very afternoon. Destiny emphasizes the idea of an unalterable course of events, and is often used of a propitious fortune: It was his destiny to save his nation. Doom esp. applies to the final ending, always unhappy or terrible, brought about by destiny or fate: He met his doom bravely. 7. foreordain, preordain.

[RED-DOG]

Cheating, the copy-and-paste way


By Michael A. Fredericks



LET’S face it, people do cheat, and sometimes by blatantly plagiarising someone else’s work.

And it seems like it has been going on forever. From paraphrasing a school report, to copying, in verbatim, a catchy phrase simply to increase their chances of winning a slogan contest, it seems that when it comes to cutting creative corners, people can be quite ingenuous.

But while cheating in itself is nothing new, the method by which it is done has changed with the times.

The Internet, regarded as the most invaluable source of information, is also now the most invaluable source of information for cheaters.

Jonathan Wong and Selva Gopal (not their real names), both 29, know how easy it is to plagiarise simply by pointing and clicking.

They know because they’ve done it before.

"The Internet has made it easier for me as a student," says Jonathan, an engineering graduate currently doing his MBA in marketing, in a recent telephone interview.

"If I have an assignment, all I need to do is get on the Web and do a simple search. Then when I find what I want, I simply print it out. From there half the work is already done."

But Jonathan maintains that he does not simply insert his name and pass the whole article/ essay off as his own. He says: "When I come across an article that is suitable, I’ll read through it and cut-and-paste the information that I require.

"If the information is a common idea, I’ll sometimes leave it as it is, word-for-word. If it is technical, I’ll paraphrase.

"More often than not, the end product is a combination of a few different articles," he says.

[AndrewT]

So fate means that you have no free will? Your life is a rollercoaster into which you are strapped in with no say in where it goes? That can't be right.

It seems to me that people who believe in fate are akin to someone who asks you to think of a number and when you say 'five' (for example), they say 'I knew you were going to say that'.

[AdamM]

From dictionary.com (the definitions at 2 and 3 sum up my understanding of fate):

fate      /feɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[feyt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, fat·ed, fat·ing.
–noun 1. something that unavoidably befalls a person; fortune; lot: It is always his fate to be left behind. 
2. the universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably prescribed; the decreed cause of events; time: Fate decreed that they would never meet again. 
3. that which is inevitably predetermined; destiny: Death is our ineluctable fate. 
4. a prophetic declaration of what must be: The oracle pronounced their fate. 
5. death, destruction, or ruin. 
6. the Fates, Classical Mythology. the three goddesses of destiny, known to the Greeks as the Moerae and to the Romans as the Parcae. 
–verb (used with object) 7. to predetermine, as by the decree of fate; destine (used in the passive): a person who was fated to be the savior of the country. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1325–75; ME < L fātum utterance, decree of fate, destiny, orig. neut. of fātus, ptp. of fārī to speak]


—Synonyms 1. karma, kismet; chance, luck. Fate, destiny, doom refer to the idea of a fortune, usually adverse, that is predetermined and inescapable. The three words are frequently interchangeable. Fate stresses the irrationality and impersonal character of events: It was Napoleon's fate to be exiled. The word is often lightly used, however: It was my fate to meet her that very afternoon. Destiny emphasizes the idea of an unalterable course of events, and is often used of a propitious fortune: It was his destiny to save his nation. Doom esp. applies to the final ending, always unhappy or terrible, brought about by destiny or fate: He met his doom bravely. 7. foreordain, preordain.

ah ha

no then

A wise man said "Life's a journey, not a destination"

no control, no fate or destiny, just a random swirling ride. Get the best out of it you can rather than wait for fate, destiny or deity to hand you anything.

[matt674]

OF COURSE IT EXISTS!!!!!

I remember them from a while back (primary school days) - always used to come back with pots of home made jam, yum yum

[AndrewT]

There was an article in the Guardian in Ben Goldacre's Bad Science column on Saturday which dealt with the average person's ability to see patterns between events which are actually random and unconnected.

http://www.badscience.net/?p=404

Of course, the fact that it appeared this weekend, just as when we're having a discussion about fate is, kind of, what's the word?

Oh yes, coincidence.

[RED-DOG]

Of course, the fact that it appeared this weekend, just as when we're having a discussion about fate is, kind of.....