Do you believe that all events tied to 23 are coincidence, or is there a power behind the number 23?

Question

Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994 (1+9+9+4=23) and was born in 1967 (1+9+6+7=23).
The first Morse Code transmission - "What hath God wrought?" - was from the Bible passage Numbers 23:23.
The Salt March, initiated by Mohandas Gandhi to protest the salt tax, lasted 23 days.
William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616.
Actor River Phoenix, was born on August 23, 1970. He died at the age of 23, on Halloween 1993.
Julius Caesar is alleged to have been stabbed twenty-three times when he was assassinated.
The plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper (The Day the Music Died) occurred on February 3 (2/3), 1959.
On September 6, 2006 Hannah Kersey, a woman with two wombs, gave birth to three girls (identical twins from one womb and a lone child from the other). She was aged 23 at the time.
Coincidence?

The Number 23 starring Jim Carrey is in theatres February 23.

Answer 1

No coincidence. Everything of any historical import is defintely related to the number 23. I have been urging that this be taught in public schools for years. I am a Professor of History and specialize in the number 23. I have written many scholarly articles on the number 23. No one in the historical community doubts that some relationship to the number 23 is necessary for an event to be historically significant.

Answer 2

There's power in any number if you want there to be. Do you want to discuss the Biblical roles that 7 and 40 have? Or maybe the implications of 10, or 13? People think that numbers are hard fact and solid, so numerology seems like a valid argument, but it isn't. Numbers are significant only because you want them to be.

You still need to justify your math. Why add 1,9,9,4 for the year of Curt Cobain's death but not the year of Buddy Holly's? The answer is that you're looking for the Answer to be 23. Well that's not a scientific argument, nor is it a coincidence. You were looking for information that justifies the argument of 23 being a significant number.



That's no different than saying that 10 is significant. After all, 10 = 90 -80, 9+1, 4+6, 14-4, 23-13. You're not proving anything because the significance is the equation. If every significant event occured in a year that added up to 23 or if every significant death was an equation of 2:3 then you would have something.

I've studied numerology, and it's very relative, much like many other belief systems. The power is in the equations, the process that leads you to the answer. I'm still excited about the movie, but even the previews show that 2/3 = .666. No it doesn't, it equals .666666 ad infinitum (it goes on forever). Give me a calculator and I can turn anyone into Jesus or the devil when you don't ask for the equations.

Answer 3

Don't ask me - I seem to have a thing with the number 27...

There was a man who once told me that the glass windows in the 20 euro notes add up to 54. And then he added that 54 divided by 2 is 27, and that you can divide it down to 9, and that that is what the world consists of.
That same man wrote a book or 2 about symbolism, and was a member of the Freemasonry.

I still think he's full of it.

I never found those books of his published.


If you look hard enough, you will find a correlation between millions of things. Point is, are they important enough? Kurt Cobain's death didn't leave the world changed dramatically; we all remember him, but he didn't change the world by dying or being born.

The first morse code transmission is a line which someone had chosen by their own accord - that doesn't count either, that's not coincidence, it's choice.

The march could have lasted longer or shorter.

So Shakespeare lived to see his 52nd birthday. He didn't die on his 46th, did he?! Jaysis...

River Phoenix died of an OD... again, self-inflicted. Choice. Consciousness.

As for Julius... guess his son didn't stab long and hard enough. Besides, what proof is there that there were EXACTLY 23 stab wounds? They didn't exactly have a CSI back in those days in Rome.

The plane crash... here in Europe, we write february 3 as 3/2 - and 32 doesn't have as much importance, does it?

Hannah is just lucky. Or her husband or boyfriend or one-night stand or whatever was just VERY fertile. But then again, with two wombs, those little seamon would have a world of options, I'm not surprised she would have had 3 children. I'm sure the twins weren't identical either... in which case, I wouldn't want to be her when she has her period.

Now if that film would wait until february 23, 2023, that would be even better!

(I'm sure SPAM in numerology would add up to 23...)

Answer 4

I dont think so

i mean if you look hard enough, you can make your own number-life things


its like september 11, there was a lot of things that added to eleven in that event:

1) New York City has 11 letters

2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.

3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.

4) George W Bush has 11 letters.

This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:

1) New York is the 11th state.

2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.

3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9+ 2 =11

4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11

5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 = 11

6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11.
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.

2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.

3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3+1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.

4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.









But the always are interesting and fun


The Movie looks good too

Answer 5

You can find anything with any number and believe there's a "power" or "conspiracy" behind the number...remember the famous 9/11 chain letter?

1) New York City has 11 letters.

2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.

3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.

4) George W Bush has 11 letters.

This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:

1) New York is the 11th state.

2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.

3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11

4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11

5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 = 11

6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11.

Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:

1) The total number of victims inside all the hi- jacked planes was 254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.

2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.

3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.

4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.

Answer 6

There are many ways to look for relationships, real or perceived between events. For example, why is there a one-to-one correlation, ( a perfect correlation,) between changing fluctuations of the stock market and the length of hem lines of dresses. The question should be : 'what does it mean ?' Or : 'Is there something we can learn from this?' Despite the perfect correlation they are two events without a logical link and therefore any relationship drawn is meaningless. (If you think I am wrong here, I would like to hear your explanation.) So all the events listed in your question fall in the same category. There is no logical thread between them. They are isolated events that have, coincidentally, the number 23 in some form mixed up with the facts. ( Except for the last event you give. Obviously, this event was contrived by the movie distributors. Why not February 22 or 24 - no - it had to be 23.) Coincidence is all it is - just coincidence. Synchronosity - now there we have a more compelling concept. Have you ever written a word, an unusual word with low use frequency and then simulataneously heard that word used by someone on your radio or television . Maybe we could call it coincidence but the mathematical odds for such event can reach almost infinitesmal proportions. There is no logical link here either but some exquisite probabilities. However, at the end of the day it's just another coincidence. No cause and effect can be demonstrated here and we have learnt nothing. But it's great entertainment and I'll be watching that movie. Good question !

Answer 7

the same could be said about the#11 and 9/11
1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the TwinTowers in 1993) has 11 letters.
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.
5) New York is the 11th state.
6) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number11.
7) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
8) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers.6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 = 11

6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number911. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11.
7) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.
8) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4= 11.
3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers
incident.
The most recognised symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is
the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic
holy book:

"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle.
The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo,
while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for
the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was
peace."

That verse is number 9.11 of the QURAN

Answer 8

This is an incorrect use of numerology.
In numerology all digits are added and reduced to a single number so only 1 - 9 have meaning, the only exceptions are 11 and 22 which are not reduced further and have their own significance.
23 would be a 5.
1967 is a 5 so is 1994.
Numbers 23 / 23 would be 5/ 5 or 1.
1 is the number of beginnings.
Shakespeare 4 - 23, 1564 would be 9 - 7 = 7
River Phoenix 8 - 23- 1970= 4, 8 =12 = 3
Not even the same numbers.
Plane crash = 2 / 3 1959 = 5, 6 = 11
Hannah Kersey 's children 9/6/2006= 6,8 = 14 = 5

Sorry the numbers are not all reduced to 23 which is a 5
5 by the way is the number of change and expression, it is a number held by many artists, writers and actors.

Answer 9

The Number 23 Coincidences

Answer 10

I don't know if anyone else has said this befor me, but I didn't feel like reading all 2052 answers. (2+0+5+2=9. Darn. Maybe next time.)

As many... and I mean many.... of you have pointed out, 23 is just a number which people have chosen to find coincidence it. However, there is a reason that people picked 23 and not any other number - It is a prime number, and therefore more likely to be associated with coincidences because events associated with composite numbers would be divided by a factor to arrive at it or some other prime. In addition, it enjoys the boon of having the two lowest primes as digits; 2 and 3 are small and therefore can be included in complex calculations that arrive at numbers only remotely related, which can then become coincidental with significant events. Two and three are also the most frequent factors (excluding 1) of a given range of whole numbers. 23 less the numeric base is 13, which has many phobias attached to it.

More unusual interpretations of 23's prevalence involve some of the stranger sub-theories of quantum mechanics.

Hope that helped. And yes, I raped that off wikipedia. True, though.

Answer 11

The problem with this "power" thoery is a great miscalculation of probabilities. Many of these events take place on the 23rd day of a particular month, the average month is 365/12 days = 30.4 days long. That means the probability of any event happening on one particular day is a 1/30.4*100% = 3.3%. With the estimate that a million notable events have taken place since well-recorded history began, 3.3% of a million is 33,000 events. Essentially, with just things that happened on the 23rd day of the month, you could list up to 33,000 events and be within the probable realm. Of course, this does not account for the "Kurt Cobain" example, but consider that 19xx, 1+9=10. Now think about how probable it is that the other two digits add up to 13. Each digit could be 0, 1, 2, ... 9, so there are 10 possibilities. The sets are 4+9, 5+8, 6+7, 7+6, 8+5, and 9+4. That means 6/(10*10)*100% = 6% of all dates from 1900 to 2000 will add up to 23. The probability of someone being born and dying on two "add up to 23" dates, assuming they are randomly distributed, is .06*.06*100% = .36%. But, if you limit yourself to second half of the centruy, the probability changes to 5/50*100% = 10%. And, the probability of being born and dying on "add up to 23" dates is .10*.10*100%= 1%. If there are at least 100 celebrities who have been born and died after 1950 but before 2000, then it is within the probable realm that this occured.

This is a common human fallacy. People make very poor estimates of "seemingly unlikely" probabilities. The problem is that they 1) fail to comprehend the massive sample size (every event in history) and 2) do not consider the great number of possible coincidences. The second point can be elaborated as, people don't seem to add up all the different unlikely events. In other words, it might be a .01% chance that something REALLY weird happens, but suppose there are 10,000 REALLY weird things that COULD happen, with the same probability. The chance that one of them happens is 100%.

Also, why list February 3rd as significant? 2/3 is hardly equal to 23. These facts have little direct connection, therefore any "power" behind the numbers do not seem to have a purpose, meaning, interpretation, or bearing.

Please do understand that this explanation is not to "disprove" the more exotic thesis, just to clarify that it is not totally unlikely that these events simply happened by chance.