As a lifelong player of games using dice as random number generators for resolution, I was interested to learn some years ago that if run long enough a series of random numbers is recognizable as not random. However, the real dispute is with my wife who refuses to believe that there is a psychic relationship between the thrower of the dice and the dice which can get quite emotional to the regret of the dice thrower.
I live in the UK. 20 years ago I was in NZ and hired a mtb to go into some wilderness. I saw two people all day, my former geography teacher and his wife.
Someone once said that it was not a small world but a narrow one. If you like say, the outdoors, you can make odd meetings in the outdoors.
I always through that intuition mostly comes from senses like smell and electrical perception that our brains perceive but suppress from our consciousness to keep it simple.
It's interesting to think of intuition as also coming from patterns we observe over time, but shaped by our brain's subconscious beliefs about what patterns should be.
I just finished reading Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow" about this very topic -- what are the chances?! I'd highly recommend it, though parts of it get way more in-depth than I was prepared for. His basic premise -- we have two systems by which we think, a fast, intuitive, gut-based reaction (thinking fast) and the slower, attention-based, deliberate way of thinking. We believe we mostly use our slow thinking, but it's our faster, intuitive side that interprets the world for us and on which our slow thinking relies. In other words, we aren't nearly as smart as we think we are -- all of us are susceptible to biases.
Thanks for sharing the Kickstarter Mike! Appreciate your enthusiasm for the project & I can't wait to start sharing the songs.
Another coincidence I always remember was when I was on holiday in Paris with my mum and sister, we got those hideous caricatures you could get done in the city by a random artist, and my sis and I were so excited to take them home. Next on the agenda was to hop on one of the many tour buses to the Eiffel Tower, and halfway up I realised I'd left my caricature on the bus! Oh no! I'd made peace with it by the time we'd seen the tower and we got on the next tour bus to take us to our next sightseeing point. There were so many of those open-top buses zooming round Paris, so imagine my surprise when, over two hours since I'd left my caricature behind, I spot a rolled up piece of paper two seats in front of us. It was -- as expected -- a graphite, scrawly drawing of me. We had gotten on the exact same bus.
What a joy of a breakfast read, thank you. So many fascinating tales beautifully strung together. I love the Galileo’s surname was Galilei, we should all be named in similarly almost-but-not-quiteness
As a lifelong player of games using dice as random number generators for resolution, I was interested to learn some years ago that if run long enough a series of random numbers is recognizable as not random. However, the real dispute is with my wife who refuses to believe that there is a psychic relationship between the thrower of the dice and the dice which can get quite emotional to the regret of the dice thrower.
I mean what are the odds of my reading this exact newsletter that I subscribed to more than a year ago?!?!?
It must be fate, amirite?
And that was a great episode of Radiolab.
I live in the UK. 20 years ago I was in NZ and hired a mtb to go into some wilderness. I saw two people all day, my former geography teacher and his wife.
Someone once said that it was not a small world but a narrow one. If you like say, the outdoors, you can make odd meetings in the outdoors.
What an interesting and illuminating read. I trust my gut way too much!
Fabulous. I love any reminder of the importance of curiosity. What aspects of our life aren’t enhanced by staying curious? 😉
I'm still distracted by the floating pigs. Even if only 30 of them.. must have a story behind it!
It might be fair to say that we have a wee bit of bias in the way that we perceive things.
I'm working on my ability to create pithy understatements. How'd I do?
That's interesting.
I always through that intuition mostly comes from senses like smell and electrical perception that our brains perceive but suppress from our consciousness to keep it simple.
It's interesting to think of intuition as also coming from patterns we observe over time, but shaped by our brain's subconscious beliefs about what patterns should be.
I just finished reading Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow" about this very topic -- what are the chances?! I'd highly recommend it, though parts of it get way more in-depth than I was prepared for. His basic premise -- we have two systems by which we think, a fast, intuitive, gut-based reaction (thinking fast) and the slower, attention-based, deliberate way of thinking. We believe we mostly use our slow thinking, but it's our faster, intuitive side that interprets the world for us and on which our slow thinking relies. In other words, we aren't nearly as smart as we think we are -- all of us are susceptible to biases.
Thanks for a great newsletter as always!
What are the odds of my reading this fantastic post at just this moment today? Thanks for a terrifically entertaining read.
Thanks for sharing the Kickstarter Mike! Appreciate your enthusiasm for the project & I can't wait to start sharing the songs.
Another coincidence I always remember was when I was on holiday in Paris with my mum and sister, we got those hideous caricatures you could get done in the city by a random artist, and my sis and I were so excited to take them home. Next on the agenda was to hop on one of the many tour buses to the Eiffel Tower, and halfway up I realised I'd left my caricature on the bus! Oh no! I'd made peace with it by the time we'd seen the tower and we got on the next tour bus to take us to our next sightseeing point. There were so many of those open-top buses zooming round Paris, so imagine my surprise when, over two hours since I'd left my caricature behind, I spot a rolled up piece of paper two seats in front of us. It was -- as expected -- a graphite, scrawly drawing of me. We had gotten on the exact same bus.
That Pratchett quote is one of my favourites. Really interesting article, thanks!
The episode with the Lauras sounds like spooky action at a distance, doesn't it? I find these unrandom randomities delightful. What an amazing world!
Fortunately, my gut is a curious one.
Love this!
What a joy of a breakfast read, thank you. So many fascinating tales beautifully strung together. I love the Galileo’s surname was Galilei, we should all be named in similarly almost-but-not-quiteness