Of course, each person has to figure out those complex issues around coincidences themselves, and make sense of it. Just trying to show another side of the coin.
What Stoic said above, is very accurate. Those in the gaming, lottery, insurance areas know all of that very well. They all hire the math PhD's for that reason.
They then EXPLOIT human emotion, when in fact the game is rigged. The casino always wins in the end.
So those in the know, do use that knowledge to manipulate the public, everyday. Watch a lottery commercial, it is preying on human wishful thinking.
Guess what? So is SGI. They are doing the same thing. They tell you that by doing what they say, you can win the Karma lottery, and change your "luck". And the more you chant, and the more money you give to Dr. Ikeda, the more better your luck will be.
Some people go off the edge, and starting chanting hours a day, or all day, and give SGI everything. That is no accident, SGI is setting people up for that, if they are vulnerable. This thread shows SGI pushing people to GIVE SGI THEIR LAST DOLLAR ON EARTH.
SGI knows what they are doing to people.
The SGI testimonies of Believers, are the Confirmation Bias, as well as wanting to please their leaders by juicing their stories.
But SGI does take CONSCIOUS advantage of superstitious thinking in many ways, like when they try to SCARE people that terrible things will happen to them, if they leave the SGI system. So SGI does that on purpose.
Does SGI also juice and manipulate the idea that SGI-Chanting will bring you Goodies, when in fact those running SGI know its not true? Would have to say yes.
Like any sect, they see that people lives do NOT get better, they still die from disease, same people, same problems year after year. That's life.
But in any large group of people, a few % will have some success, and they just advertise those. Take a group of 100,000 people, and a few % are going to have some "good luck". Then just put those in your magazine, and ignore the other 99% of people.
There are interesting maths in this, for those who are interested.
Many libraries have this excellent basic DVD lecture series, and it can be watched for free.
Joy of Thinking: The Beauty and Power of Classical Mathematical Ideas [
www.teach12.com]
QUOTE: "Coincidences are striking because any particular one is extremely improbable. However, what is even more improbable is that no coincidence will occur. You see that finding two people having the same birthday in a room of 45 is extremely likely, by chance alone, even though the probability that any particular two people will have the same birthday is extremely low."