📋 All Are Forced to Gamble
Blaise Pascal was a gambler, a mathematician, a philosopher and a deeply religious person. While these different concerns of Pascal’s may seem to be in conflict with each other, Pascal saw them as all deeply related. He discovered the basic principles of probability theory and used the techniques it provided for dealing with uncertainty in general, at the card table, and in attempting to address the age/old philosophical and religious problem of whether we could know if a God exists. Find out more about him in this video from The School of Life.
Pascal is equally well known as the founder of probability theory and as the author of a seemingly dubious argument for the rationality of belief in God, often called “Pascal’s wager.” Find out more about it here in this video.
I found the first video really interesting. To see such a pessimistic view get recognition for how we should view life is uncommon. Many people hold that we should always view the glass as half full and not half empty. I think a view on life such as Pascal’s is somewhat refreshing and provides an interesting contradiction to what is always preached at us from a young age.
I think that Pascals work is very interesting. A lot of the problems he has with mankind are still some of the same issues that we have as a society today. I liked the quote “mans greatness comes from knowing he is wrteched…..but there is greatness i knowing one is wretched.” becuase while it is very pessimistic, to me it means that by recognizing our own flaws we become ‘greater’ and better people. The more people who do this, the better we are as a whole.
Blaise Pascal was a very interesting and wise individual. His perspective on fame, boredom, God, and other topics drew my attention. His views regarding gambling and how it correlates with belief in God, given the probability of his existence or not was very unique and something I never thought of before. He is a very smart mathematician so I bet if he plays the probability he would have more success gambling than someone who doesn’t think about the other scenarios or chances. To think of him in a casino I would bet he would win more often than not.
I found this fascinating because it showed the thinking behind a pessimist that would view the glass as half empty and observing the life of Pascal provided contradiction to what we were taught as kids
I completely disagree with pascals wager as a Muslim. God’s existence is real. but it is also an interesting way to think because he is no denying it, he’s just saying believe to win the gamble
I really liked the first video because it explained really well who Pascal was and what he stood for, and what he did in his life. I liked how the second video broke down probability even more and Pascal’s views about it even more.
These are both interesting videos. Overall, I feel like Pascal Wager was essentially taking advantage of the cognitive bias of loss aversion to persuade others into a belief in a god. Does anyone else feel this way? Also, I just realized I use Pascal Wagner’s concept by keeping a spare tire in my car. LOL