Randomness

Our very brains revolt at the idea of randomness. We have evolved as a species to become exquisite pattern-finders; long before the advent of science, we figured out that a salmon-colored sky heralds a dangerous storm or that a baby’s flushed face likely means a difficult night ahead. Our minds auto...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Best Writing on Mathematics 2013 Vol. 4; pp. 52 - 55
Main Author Seife, Charles
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Princeton University Press 19.01.2014
Subjects
Applied mathematics
Applied statistics
Inferential statistics
MATHEMATICS
Popular science
Probability theory
Pure mathematics
Random events
Randomness
Statistics
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Summary:Our very brains revolt at the idea of randomness. We have evolved as a species to become exquisite pattern-finders; long before the advent of science, we figured out that a salmon-colored sky heralds a dangerous storm or that a baby’s flushed face likely means a difficult night ahead. Our minds automatically try to place data in a framework that allows us to make sense of our observations and use them to understand and predict events. Randomness is so difficult to grasp because it works against our pattern-finding instincts. It tells us that sometimes there is no pattern to be found.
ISBN:9780691160412
0691160414
DOI:10.1515/9781400847990-007