Ivars Peterson’s The Jungles of Randomness

(insert bad joke about Isabel being your safari guide)

Random (as defined by Merriam-Webster Online):

without definite aim, direction, rule, or method 

• The movement of molecules responsible for smell

• Replication of viral protein coats

• Flip of a coin or toss of a die

Scientists and a history of the study of randomness.

No field is exclusion of any other.

Biology and mathematics both have applications stemming from

the study of randomness.

If one can disrupt the growth of the viral coat, one may have an

innovative approach to medicine.

Randomness and order. Where do they meet?

Oscillators can affect each other. The swinging pendulums of two clocks placed side-by-

side will eventually synch their motion.

Particular types of fireflies in Asia can synch their flashes even when their numbers are

thousands.

Oscillators can degrade to a state of disorder, losing

synchronicity.

This intersection offers the thought that nothing is exclusive

of anything else.

Industry of randomness. Creating a random number

generator is easier said than done.

People often hold the misconceived idea

that events which are unpredicted or unpredictable by humans are random.

Lack of understanding is not the same as randomness.

Do things happen for a reason?Delightful or horrific coincidence is simply the product of chance.

“ [A] boy caught a ten-pound cod […] and presented [it] to his

grandmother. When the grandmother opened up its stomach she found inside a

diamond ring – a family heirloom that she had lost while fishing […]

ten years earlier.”

In a room of twenty-three people, the chances of any two people sharing a birthday are

50/50.

2 + 2 = 3

Randomness as a philosophical question.

Is true randomness comprehensible from a human

perspective?