Understanding Coincidence In A Better Way

What Makes a Coincidence a Meaningful One?

Have you ever had a strange opportunity that blew your mind? You might have been thinking about an old friend you hadn’t talked to in years when they called you out of the blue. Or maybe you found something you had lost for a long time, right when you needed it. These events, which seem to happen by chance, often make us think about the strange forces at work in our lives. But what makes a chance so important? In this article, we will talk about chances and look at the different ways that people see them.

Strange events, called coincidences, catch our attention and make us think about what they mean. They are more than just random meetings; there is an element of surprise. Imagine yourself rolling a die over and over and always getting a six. Even though it’s theoretically possible, the fact that the same thing keeps happening makes people wonder. But what one person thinks is amazing might seem normal to someone else. For example, if your ZIP code is 61331 and you roll the numbers 6-1-3-3-1, some people might think it’s a strange chance, while others might not think much of it.

It’s not easy for our minds to deal with randomness. You’ll keep getting easy patterns like 1, 2, and 3 when you try to make a random string of numbers. To fake real chaos, you have to work at it, and even then, it’s often just a front. Deep down, we all have a natural tendency to see patterns and give them value. It’s a survival skill that helped our ancestors figure out what kinds of dangers were around them. Like the primitive man in the bush, who quickly ran away when he saw something moving that looked like a tiger. It’s better to misinterpret patterns than to miss real patterns that could lead to bad things.

It’s interesting that people who believe in conspiracies often say that there are no accidents. They think that there are hidden plans and events that affect each other and change the world. However, studies reveal that while conspiracy theorists may identify patterns in provided data, their likelihood of identifying patterns in random sequences is not significantly higher than that of other individuals. It looks like their interest in conspiracy theories comes from their need to find other ways to explain things and then fit those new ideas into the ones they already have.

A researcher from the University of Fribourg named Dr. Sebastian Dieguez adds to this idea. He says that people who notice a lot of coincidences in their lives probably have a natural tendency to look for ultimate reasons and purposes. This kind of bias can show up as trusting in a higher power or a bad plan that was planned by a group of people. It’s not just conspiracy theorists who like to find purpose in random events; everyone does it.

Since the development of AI, there have been some interesting links found between coincidences and the hallucinations of big language models. These models, such as the one you’re currently using, predict the most likely words based on previous inputs. They are good at making sentences that make sense and often seem reasonable, even though they are not based on reality. In the same way, people who accidentally notice patterns may make up stories or links that seem important but don’t have a solid base.

There are some coincidences that are just random, but others can show how deeply linked everything is in the world. A retired psychiatry professor named Bernard Beitman has made it his life’s work to look into important coincidences. His book, “Meaningful Coincidences: How and Why Synchronicity and Serendipity Happen,” has many stories, some of which are his own. These examples, which range from finding a lost cat while lost to choking at the same time as his father’s death miles away, demonstrate the inexplicable connections in life.

However, it’s important to be careful when judging accidents. No matter how interesting they seem at first, some stories change over time and become more dramatic. This doesn’t mean that all unexpected events aren’t real, but it does serve as a warning that you need to be sceptical to tell the difference between real coincidences and made-up stories.

There are also interesting stories about accidents in the field of mathematics. Let’s look at the numbers 196,883 and 196,884. In their own right, they are important in different areas of mathematics. In 1978, John McKay was the first person to find their link. This led to the discovery of what mathematicians now call “Monstrous Moonshine.” This discovery started a whole new area of study and showed that coincidences can sometimes lead to surprising good things.

Finally, coincidences continue to puzzle and interest us, revealing hints of a deeper order in a world that seems to be in a lot of chaos. Despite our brains’ constant search for patterns and meaning, it’s crucial to strike a balance between identifying genuine coincidences and avoiding excessive storytelling. The next time a coincidence happens to you, think about whether it was just a coincidence or if it has a greater meaning for you.