483
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_52
Chapter 52
The Extinction Probability Era
52.1 Navigating a World of Chance and Uncertainty
“I clung to certain numbers and combinations, but soon abandoned them and staked
almost unconsciously… My temples were soaked with sweat and my hands were
shaking … ‘You are bold – you are very bold,’ they said to me, ‘but be sure you go
away to-morrow as soon as possible, or else you will lose it all’”.
1
In the year 1866,
Fyodor Dostoevsky, a compulsive gambler, found himself in dire debt, and wrote
his novella, The Gambler, set in “Roulettenbad.” It is likely a far more complicated
disorder than conventional psychiatric diagnoses would have us believe, aside from
one of its manifestations presenting an “increased risk of suicide”.
2
Various antiseizure, antidepressant and mood-stabilizing drugs, along with psychotherapy, have
all been recommended for those afflicted by the “thrill,” or its potential cohort of
“mental illness”
3
(Fig. 52.1).
But the condition of excited win/or lose all, that infuses the roulette experience—
when extended by turns from Dostoevsky’s own de minimis fair game—touches a
vastly deeper, darker reality that has come to characterize the behavior of the human
collective. What are the odds of any occurrence in an individual and/or aggregate?
Being dealt a straight flush, achieving a bill in Congress, surviving a plane crash,
winning the lottery, dying of any disease, or, of an entire species going extinct?
1 The Gambler And Other Stories, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Translated by Constance Garnett,
Heinemann & Zsolnat Ltd., London, Toronto, 1914, pp. 103, 105.
2 See The American Psychiatric Society, Physician Review by Philip Wang, M.D., Dr. P.H., August
2018. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gambling-disorder/what-is-gambling-disorder,
Accessed May 13, 2020. See also, “Compulsive Gambling,” https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseasesconditions/compulsive-gambling/symptoms-causes/syc-20355178, Accessed May 13, 2020.
3 See “Gambling Addiction (Compulsive or Pathological Gambling),” by Roxanne DrydenEdwards, MD, Medical Editor William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR, MecidineNet, https://www.
medicinenet.com/gambling_addiction/article.htm#gambling_addiction_facts, Accessed May 13,
2020.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_52
Chapter 52
The Extinction Probability Era
52.1 Navigating a World of Chance and Uncertainty
“I clung to certain numbers and combinations, but soon abandoned them and staked
almost unconsciously… My temples were soaked with sweat and my hands were
shaking … ‘You are bold – you are very bold,’ they said to me, ‘but be sure you go
away to-morrow as soon as possible, or else you will lose it all’”.
1
In the year 1866,
Fyodor Dostoevsky, a compulsive gambler, found himself in dire debt, and wrote
his novella, The Gambler, set in “Roulettenbad.” It is likely a far more complicated
disorder than conventional psychiatric diagnoses would have us believe, aside from
one of its manifestations presenting an “increased risk of suicide”.
2
Various antiseizure, antidepressant and mood-stabilizing drugs, along with psychotherapy, have
all been recommended for those afflicted by the “thrill,” or its potential cohort of
“mental illness”
3
(Fig. 52.1).
But the condition of excited win/or lose all, that infuses the roulette experience—
when extended by turns from Dostoevsky’s own de minimis fair game—touches a
vastly deeper, darker reality that has come to characterize the behavior of the human
collective. What are the odds of any occurrence in an individual and/or aggregate?
Being dealt a straight flush, achieving a bill in Congress, surviving a plane crash,
winning the lottery, dying of any disease, or, of an entire species going extinct?
1 The Gambler And Other Stories, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Translated by Constance Garnett,
Heinemann & Zsolnat Ltd., London, Toronto, 1914, pp. 103, 105.
2 See The American Psychiatric Society, Physician Review by Philip Wang, M.D., Dr. P.H., August
2018. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gambling-disorder/what-is-gambling-disorder,
Accessed May 13, 2020. See also, “Compulsive Gambling,” https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseasesconditions/compulsive-gambling/symptoms-causes/syc-20355178, Accessed May 13, 2020.
3 See “Gambling Addiction (Compulsive or Pathological Gambling),” by Roxanne DrydenEdwards, MD, Medical Editor William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR, MecidineNet, https://www.
medicinenet.com/gambling_addiction/article.htm#gambling_addiction_facts, Accessed May 13,
2020.