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i had this idea since my secondary school days, because being a slight sufferer of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, i have a thing for numbers and patterns.

when i was reading on maths and logic, i came across some other scholars or matheticians beliefs that coincided with mine, in that patterns in a cycle does not necessarily have to be regular.

for example, take a look at this trend.

1, 3, 6, 10, 20, 25, 30, 33, 36, 39, 40, 43, 46, 50.

a weak yet certain pattern is observed in this set of numbers, if you follow the trend you should come up with the next number as 100 or 60. because of the irregularities of the number formed, the next event is "highly predictable", yet not with a high "significance level". also, there isnt an explanation on how the number 40 came up instead of 42, making it harder to comprehend the cycle itself. but essentially, it's a big cycle.

just my thoughts on this issue. any similar or opposing views? would love some serious insights on this issue

2007-07-01 01:29:47 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities Philosophy

now that im a christian, i believe in God the Creator, and at the same time i believe God works some things in a pattern. i believe this is still probable even for me as a christian, but of course thats my own thought.

2007-07-01 01:31:24 · update #1

its ok if you dont agree with me, just tell me more about your thoughs on this?

2007-07-01 01:38:39 · update #2

*thoughts.

2007-07-01 01:39:55 · update #3

now i am aware fully that fallacies(as defined in logic classes) such as "Post hoc ergo propter hoc" might be committed, but still i believe it could also be coincidences that fallacies such as "Correlation does not imply causation" are observed.

2007-07-01 01:47:22 · update #4

amp, care to msg me and talk about your OCD? would love to share with people of the same condition. oh and the show "Number 23", in my opinion, is purely a case of "Post hoc ergo propter hoc", with fiction in it, of course.

2007-07-01 01:51:02 · update #5

7 answers

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could find such a pattern and thereby predict with a fair degree of certainty what the future would bring? I fear I can't agree with you, but I certainly wish you were correct in your assumptions.

2007-07-01 01:34:13 · answer #1 · answered by Elaine P...is for Poetry 7 · 0 0

I understand enough about Mathematics to know that someone with your knowledge can take real-life scenarios and apply formal logic and equations to them to show patterns, make predictions, etc... but either I've never understood math quite enough OR it just simply doesn't work, TO try the opposite, that is take numbers and equations and apply them to a "real-life" situation whether historical or imagined to see, show, or predict some result (whether that is a desired result or an objective, unbiased "to be observed" result--{that is to say that I believe many so-called results or proofs are desired results gained from manipulation of the mathematics (which most people don't have the slightest clue how to use) in order for the "proof" to be believed})...
To put it simply: I'M NOT A NUMBER! Nothing in existence (other than numbers) is a number either. Neither my life, nor the events of my life are numbers.... [Don't get me wrong I get the idea, and am quite fond of it--the first philosophy paper I wrote was on Pythagoras]...
YES! of course life perpetuates in Cycles (don't believe the Western Linear view of events-which I might ad is one of the basic ideas within the Judeo-Christian Weltanschauung). There is "order" within the universe, but the order is only a perception of a perceiver whose cognitive structures order what is perceived to "make sense" of what otherwise is more than likely complete randomness and chaos. Keep in mind that Quantum Physics "proves" that at the sub-atomic level everything which "appears" ordered and structured is, in reality, random.
Not to mention that one also cannot formulate a hypothesis, for example, to say that the War in Iraq is part of an "irregular pattern"... [by the way, isn't "irregular pattern" an oxymoron?]...

I like this question, and am having much fun thinking about it, thus I must say, if (and only if) I am even remotely close to being inaccurate, I believe that the question would have to be more specific and show various examples to be given more time and speculation.
So you have a set of numbers typed across the screne... what does that show???

2007-07-01 14:43:33 · answer #2 · answered by Cognitive Dissident ÜberGadfly 3 · 0 0

I was never a fan of numbers. My OCD takes a different form. But if you're saying life is unpredictable, that it has a bizarre seemingly random and arbitrary yet loosely organized design, then I agree.

I always hated those "guess the next number in this sequence" questions. The only thing worse was "If a train leaves Boston travelling 150 miles an hour..." I hate problem solving!

I have noticed odd things happening with the number 3 though. I'm constantly looking at the clock and it will be 3:33 or 10:33. Does 3 have any special significance? I saw that movie with Jim Carrey called "The Number 23" it was interesting. I guess anything has a meaning if you start focusing on it. You begin to notice patterns. You could drive yourself bonkers with it if you got carried away...

2007-07-01 08:47:38 · answer #3 · answered by amp 6 · 1 0

sometimes, i think i have OCD as well. i'm not sure whether everything happens in a sequence, but i try to make things happen with numbers or patterns, for example; i will only listen to a number of songs which is a multiple of 4 on my MP3 player, and i have to have 3 drinks before i go to bed, sometimes i don't like odd numbers, but sometimes i have to do things an odd number of times because i get this thought that if i do something, then do it again, it cancels it out or something. im a bit of a perfectionist at times. my ages dont matter to me though, but im only 14. I like the numbers 3,4,7,12,15,23,24,43. and i have no idea why.

Sorry to have gone off the subject a bit. Leave me a message on the shout box at www.vixen-freak-brain.piczo.com

2007-07-08 13:14:47 · answer #4 · answered by Vixen23 2 · 0 0

Certainly you have a point in the area of number patterns.

Edited in:
Using random-number behavior as an indicator and successfully predicting the location of the next sun spot on the solar surface, as the writer of this blog did on this occasion, certainly doesn't mean it can be done repeatedly. However, it does indicate the concept mightn't be entirely without merit. The fact the idea seems absurd only means the idea seems absurd. The seeming absurdity has no bearing on reality until it's actually shown to be in error.

2007-07-01 08:39:24 · answer #5 · answered by Jack P 7 · 1 0

I love a thinker!!! And opposed to current theories, neither the Earth, nor the Godhead, run on mathematics...one evolves & adapts for personal beingness...the other set the ball in motion & simply reaps of the experiences of it all.

The events that are human-created may fit into a math scenario, very similar to your explanation, and the patterns are "irregular" at this particular time because we are in the midst of "the Changes"...we are in the process of an evolutionary growth spurt, so to speak. If one could record this on a vibratory scale, we are probably nearing a 5.5 on the rictor (?forgot the spelling), hitting the 10 by about 2012...my own compilation, of course.

2007-07-01 08:46:18 · answer #6 · answered by MsET 5 · 0 0

patterns of random thinking exist in the brain why not in the irregularities of world events. The problem with prediction is its unreliability. I can create a cyclical pattern but it must coincide with every other cyclical pattern, like orbits. Cosmic or universal randomness happens in dimensions we can not measure.You are right highly predictable but so big it is insignificant. I love the question!

2007-07-08 22:51:54 · answer #7 · answered by pat 4 · 1 0

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