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Forum: General Stuff Topic: Interesting Phenomenon started by: thibodeaux Posted by thibodeaux on Feb. 24 2011,07:53
Tell me if this has ever happened to you. I've noticed that whenever I learn about something new---maybe I learn a new word---I start seeing it show up a lot.For example, this past weekend I was reading Shakespeare's "Henry V." There's a scene where they discuss something called "Salic Law." I don't remember ever seeing that phrase before, but just this week I've seen it twice in blog posts. Now why would this be? Coincidence? Or maybe the phrase is out there a lot, and I just mentally ignored it because I didn't know what it meant? If so, why did I finally learn it and start noticing it now? Posted by GORDON on Feb. 24 2011,07:55
I had that happen to me recently as well. Can't think of the word at the moment... it will come to me later.But I remember in the past when I learned the word "hirsute," all of a sudden I was seeing it everywhere. Posted by Malcolm on Feb. 24 2011,08:46
Occasionally, weird coincidences just happen. I read about the Battle of Jutland the other day. Ain't seen no battleships yet today.
Posted by TheCatt on Feb. 24 2011,09:40
< yanss site >I could have sworn they had another article on it as well that was more dedicated to it. Posted by TheCatt on Feb. 24 2011,17:58
I think it's more than confirmation bias though. I think there's also network forces, etc. Different people in the same social circle hearing something on the radio, or reading it in the paper, working through a social network, then mention it to each other, etc.
Posted by TPRJones on Feb. 24 2011,20:00
Indeed. What led you to read Henry V, thib? Could the same cause of that impulse have led to others that used that phrase reading it recently as well? If not both, then maybe one of them, and then the other picked it up from them?
Posted by Malcolm on Feb. 24 2011,20:20
You all let your unconscious minds drive you insane, don't you?
Posted by thibodeaux on Feb. 25 2011,05:32
(TPRJones @ Feb. 24 2011,23:00) QUOTE What led you to read Henry V, thib? Somebody had posted a youtube video of "St. Crispin's." Posted by TheCatt on Mar. 18 2011,07:13
Yesterday morning, I woke up thinking "Whatever happened to Roberto Benigni?"And then BAM - while driving to work, < NPR gives me an update on him. > Come on - A guy I haven't thought about in nearly 15 years? Weird. Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 18 2011,08:53
< Sayeth Jung >.
Posted by TheCatt on Mar. 18 2011,10:55
I believe it's mostly coincidence, network effect, or other things. Admittedly, I probably wonder what happened to someone a few times a day, or something like that. But only note/remember it when something like this happens.I was once playing a game of charades with people, and someone got a word, but couldn't think of what to do to act it out. Everyone was just sitting there being quiet, so I was like - wth, I'll make a random guess and said "effervescent." Dude's jaw dropped. Sure enough, that was the word. No, I had not been the one who wrote it. It was the only guess I made. Once in college, some friends and I were just sitting around, and somehow we decided to play a game of guessing what dorm random girl names lived in. So my friend picked out a name, and I guessed. (There's about 25 dorms on UNC where a female can live). Got it right. OK, 4% chance. So we did it again, and again I guessed it right. 1 in 625. So we did it again, and I got it right. 1 in 15,625. After that, we stopped. Weird shit happens. Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 18 2011,11:17
I've had that shit happen quite a bit throughout my life. One example from about a decade ago.Me : "Damn, [insert name here] is taking a long-ass time to get back. Probably had to head to the ER." ... (five minutes later) ... [phone rings, someone who's not me picks up]: ... Really? Alright. I'll be there in fifteen minutes. [looks at me] How'd you guess?" EDIT: Really, think of all the random, totally unconnected things that happen to you every day. Chances are that two or more will coincide on some superficial level. Most brains are quite capable of making up connections if there aren't any, as well. Posted by TPRJones on Mar. 21 2011,15:26
I've noticed it happening a couple of times a week all this year. I'm tentatively blaming network effect, however.
Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 21 2011,22:18
As an analogy ...Pretty much everyone notices when they walk by a street lamp and it turns off. Damn near no one notices all the times they walk by and lamps stay on. Posted by TPRJones on Mar. 22 2011,08:29
For me it's been things like this morning, when I was thinking about Dante's < Inferno > in the shower for no apparent reason and when I get to work this morning one of my coworkers gave me a book they found and didn't want but figured I would like: < Inferno > by Niven & Pournelle.What are the odds? And that's the sort of thing that's been happening a couple of times a week all year so far. I can't begin to guess how this could be due to network effect, but it must somehow. There's been way too many of these coincidences this year. Far more than I've ever seen happen before in my life to a statistically significant degree. Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 22 2011,08:51
Before a buddy of mine left the state for a new job, he cleaned out his library and headed out for some drinks with, unbeknownst to me, a few books for me to keep. After a couple rounds, I take to rambling about a particular author and how I like his work. The books were volumes I-IV of a prominent work of the very author I was talking about. Hadn't mentioned it to him before that.QUOTE There's been way too many of these coincidences this year. Far more than I've ever seen happen before in my life to a statistically significant degree. How many is too many? So, this year is the one outlier out of all the years of your life? Sounds statistically sound to me. Posted by TPRJones on Mar. 22 2011,11:17
For me this has so far been an increase of about 1600% over prior years.
Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 22 2011,11:36
Weird shit simply happens. Even an unusually high clustering of weird shit isn't terribly out of the ordinary. Your brain does wonders to fill in the blanks. What would convince me of, I dunno, some underlying connectedness I guess, would be predictable recurrences.On the flip side, if anyone wants to put forth it isn't just some random collection of coincidences, then what is it? Posted by TPRJones on Mar. 22 2011,11:54
Oh, I'm not hinting at connectedness or other psychic bullshit. I expect there's a network effect going on in most cases, and that because of the way our lives are far more integrated with information - and especially with social media - than ever before, that it's going to become somewhat commonplace.
Posted by GORDON on Mar. 22 2011,12:18
(TPRJones @ Mar. 22 2011,14:17) QUOTE For me this has so far been an increase of about 1600% over prior years. The Large Hadron Collider is fucking with physics. Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 22 2011,12:35
(GORDON @ Mar. 22 2011,14:18) QUOTE (TPRJones @ Mar. 22 2011,14:17) QUOTE For me this has so far been an increase of about 1600% over prior years. The Large Hadron Collider is fucking with physics. I wish I had that much confidence in our physicists. If this were back in the 20s or 30s, I might have entertained the notion. |