13號星期五和邪惡的惡魔

It's Friday the 13th this week. Do you think it might be an unlucky day? If so, it's worth considering what else would have to be the case. Because, if any day is an unlucky day for all or most people on Earth, that basically means that a malevolent god is screwing with us.

Luck is not a natural property of the world. After all, luck depends on our needs and our values for its meaning. You're “lucky” when probabilistic events work in favor of your life and your hopes. We say you are “unlucky” if things work out against you. It's a “lucky” break if you bump into the future love-of-your life on a crowded street. It's “unlucky” if your car breaks down the day of your big interview, making you miss out on a great job.

So, if Friday the 13th is unlucky, Something must know what your life needs and your hopes are. Something must be able to alter the outcome of billions of events per second world-wide, to make sure things turn out bad for everyone. And that same Something must also know how to predict complex future events. After all, re-jiggering the probabilities won't do anyone any harm if that Something doesn't understand what effects the re-jiggering will have.

You know what? That Something sounds a lot like God to me, or at least a god-like evil demon.

That's the metaphysics of superstition for you. There can be an unlucky day only if there is an evil demon-god-Something to make it happen.

So don't worry: there is no evil demon-god-Thing. And there won't be any vast supernatural conspiracy going on this week.

Have a great day on Friday! It's the end of the week, and it's the holiday season. That's what's important about this Friday, the 13th of December.

探討：

Edward Hudgins, “ Scared of Halloween ”

David Kelley, “ Is Religion Compatible with Objectivism? ”

William R Thomas, “ What is the Objectivist View of Reality (Metaphysics)? ”

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