Opinion

[lolotehe]

I'm thinking about pattern-recognition and telling the future.

If I said, "A B C D," it would be easy for you to guess, "E F G". But If I'm counting in hex, the correct follow-up is "E F 10".

If I say, "3 5 7," then it makes sense for you to answer, "9 11 13 15." But that's only if I'm counting odd numbers. If I'm counting primes, the correct answer is, "11 13 17 19."

I think the problem is that we don't get enough information and assume what the pattern is.

This is why we suck at telling the future.

Comments

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Except that 2 is a prime number, and according to some people 1 isn't.

[trickykitty.livejournal.com]

it could still be all odd primes, which would exclude 2 (and only 2, go figure) - point is, goofy assumption, but still one that we make when trying to predict

[lolotehe]

1 1 2 3 5 8

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

13 21 34 55...

(Interestingly, I only encountered Fibonacci a few years back. The F sequence wasn't in any math textbook I had through all of my public schooling.)

I'm so sad this man has retired.

[trickykitty.livejournal.com]

[lolotehe]