Karma is a misunderstood concept, sometimes bordering on a straight-up scam in the modern world.

The main issue with it is that people use it as some sort of “leveler,” based primarily on emotions and wishful thinking.

The two most common situations are:

a/ A person does something “bad” (e.g., cheating), and people conclude they will get bad karma.

b/ A person does something “good,” and people conclude they will get good karma.

Life is a bit more… mathematical and cold.

Let’s say that the cheater comes home with a nice gift for his kid and wife — he may get a hug for his effort.

Let’s say that the good-doer goes home only to see that his expensive bicycle is missing because he’d forgotten to lock it.

At the end of the day, the world is based on cause and effect rather than the “proper distribution” of good and bad in our lives.

And that’s pretty sad when you think about it, because it makes it mathematically less likely for a person to get out of a bad situation.

Imagine two kids. One has a nice, loving family; the other is an orphan. The latter is less likely to succeed in this world simply because this place is extremely competitive and hostile. Every disadvantage is abused by the competition.

The kid with the nice family is more likely to grow up with healthy self-esteem, get a good education, become “a productive member of society”, and live a more fulfilled life.

The orphan goes from one institution to the next. He sleeps in dirty beds and is thrown around by adults because he has no protection. He is a lot more likely to get into crime, drugs… etc.

I know that the “exception crowd” may point out some kid who overcame everything…

But it doesn’t matter, bro.

Exceptions mean nothing.

Selection Bias

A lot of what people call karma is selective filtering of negative outcomes and poorly interpreted causality.

A person does something bad and eventually experiences a negative outcome. People conclude that this is karma, even though the initial action and the subsequent event could be 100% unrelated.

If a politician who stole money and subsequently prevented the construction of a hospital gets cancer, people may conclude that this is “karma.”

But in reality, that same guy might have donated money to the same cause and still gotten sick.

“But they will get their karma in the future…”

This is also a common belief based on human emotions rather than true knowledge.

The sad truth is that all people get punished pretty hard if they live long enough.

Many may mistake this for “karma,” when a lot of it is basically the unavoidable pain of life, regardless of your actions.

I shared the same apartment building with a national traitor. His daughter is my age, and we used to play as kids. That guy is essentially a sleazy, dirty politician who does whatever the “party” tells him to do for a benefit.

Where is he now?

First, he’s always been rich. Second, he was the deputy minister of defense. Third, he still holds some important position. Fourth, his daughter was accepted through soft (maybe even not that soft) bribery into different schools. She wasn’t stupid, but she was too lazy to study enough. So he used his connections.

The point is that their family is doing just fine, precisely as a result of actions that would normally induce bad karma.

Eventually, that person will die and rot in the ground like everybody else. Is it karma? Or is it just life?

“But they will get their punishment in the afterlife…”

Another belief is that bad people will “burn in hell” or be reborn in poor conditions — similar to those that they have caused for others.

The truth?

Nobody really knows whether any of this is true. It’s unproven in either direction. It may be the case, but it may also be some sort of wishful justice based on human emotion. It’s also an excuse for us normies to just let things be. “Don’t do anything, bro. Bigger forces will take care of them.”

Once again, this may indeed be the case. We just can’t know it for certain. It may also be a trick.

What if the universe is too cold to care?

Money Goes to Money, Women Go to Chads

The world has a sadistic sense of irony. You’ve probably heard the statement — opposites attract. I guess they do, but not everything in this world is a magnet.

Very often, the people who need a “cure” the most get more illness, whereas those who need to be kept in check simply get “richer.”

Hence the saying: money goes to money; the coins go to the poor, the stacks go to the rich.

What We Know For Certain

What we do know for a fact is that karma exists in some form based on the cause-and-effect principle.

If you study, you get good grades. If you don’t, you get bad grades.

If you drink a lot, you become an alcoholic, and your entire life may end up being wasted in the name of the bottle.

If you work out, you get stronger and bigger.

If you take steroids, you get bigger, but you also get side effects.

… etc.