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Crazy Coincidences

theprestige said:
Confirmation bias.

Also, what are we supposed to debunk, here? You're experiencing coincidences. It happens. Nobody here questions that.

Are we supposed to tell you that you didn't see two different Cornell sweatshirts on the same day? Are we supposed to tell you that it really is a coincidence, and not something else?

What else would it be? Aliens? A Russian troll farm? A Nigerian Prince?
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I'm sure it is confirmation bias. I know whenever I buy a car that is a different make and model than my previous car, I will start noticing other cars of the same make and model while driving around. They were there all along, but I never paid attention until I owned that make and model.
 
DebunkThisPls said:
I know all about confirmation bias. Basically the last probably 8 or 9 months of my life have been hell because of simulation theory and once I got off of what was making me seriously depressed I started noticing all these crazy coincidences. I also had an experience where my mom asked me to pick something up off the printer and i noticed that there was one piece that didn't print all the way. So I remember waiting for it but when it didn't go out all the way I kinda forgot what happened next. My first instinct would normally be I went back and picked it up but I had NO memory of this, none, and I also wouldve had to walk from the kitchen back to my room, which I also have no memory of. It's creepy and it scares me and i kinda hate life right now. I'm sorry I'm wasting your time, I am this is just why I do this crap
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No apology necessary; you're not wasting my time. But these kinds of coincidences should be mildly interesting. Maybe amusing or startling, like spektator's anecdote. If they are causing you mental anguish or emotional distress, and if you're also worrying about memory loss and lost time, then this is probably not the right place for your concerns.

I'm very sorry that you're going through such a difficult time. It sounds frightening. I hope you get the help you need. The best I can do is strongly urge you to leave this forum and find a professional to help you.
 
There are a number of stress exacerbated problems that can leave short term memory a little haywire, but it’s always worth checking for carbon monoxide exposure.
 
It's not like I just completely forgot, I remember small parts but not my main concern which was the paper on the printer I forgot. I was very heavily focused mentally on something else so I do believe that is probably it, it's just kinda creepy when it happens in person
 
Here's a thought experiment.

Every lotto has millions of players. So for any one player, the odds of winning are millions to one. That is, close to zero. And yet for EVERY GAME, someone always wins... Almost every time. How on Earth does that almost impossible event even happen?
 
DebunkThisPls said:
I know all about confirmation bias. Basically the last probably 8 or 9 months of my life have been hell because of simulation theory and once I got off of what was making me seriously depressed I started noticing all these crazy coincidences. I also had an experience where my mom asked me to pick something up off the printer and i noticed that there was one piece that didn't print all the way. So I remember waiting for it but when it didn't go out all the way I kinda forgot what happened next. My first instinct would normally be I went back and picked it up but I had NO memory of this, none, and I also wouldve had to walk from the kitchen back to my room, which I also have no memory of. It's creepy and it scares me and i kinda hate life right now. I'm sorry I'm wasting your time, I am this is just why I do this crap
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It doesn't sound like it is anything you need to get freaked out about.

As theprestige says, if it is causing you anguish go and see a professional about it.
 
I know we recently had a newly-started thread on coincidences (i.e. not a zombie thread), but coincidentally I couldn't find it.
 
Brainster said:
You want to talk about crazy coincidences, back in the 1980s I was a Big Brother to a young man who had a biological younger brother who also had a Big Brother. So one day I'm flying home for Christmas and as I'm boarding the plane I see the other Big Brother. So we say hello and remark on the wild coincidence and he asks me where I was sitting. I look down at my boarding pass and realized with a start that I was assigned the seat next to him.
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That's crazy. I was just watching TV again for a second because i had to cut it off and the show the TV was on had a fundraiser for the Big Brothers
 
DebunkThisPls said:
I know it's stupid, it just seems crazy that I had all these coincidences. The sweatshirt I can get around, but then today I saw BuckNELL, a kid at my high school had a HopewELL sweatshirt (which is another high school 3 hours away from us), then the Office episode I watched tonight Andy talked about rumors started at Cornell and how he wondered if it was more than a coincidence. He also did the same thing as me were he assured himself it was just chance but was still really scared by it
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I'd just like to come in here to say that it is very sensible of you to join this forum where you will find out the rational answers to such questions. If you particularly want one, I can give you the name of a forum where your coincidences would be accepted as spooky .. ... and I'd be along straight away to point out that they were coincidences! :D
 
Last night I started bingeing The Queen's Gambit. Right away in the first episode, the premise of the story reminded me of "Dogfight", a short story by William Gibson. Then, in the second episode, the characters stay in the Gibson Hotel, and one of them drinks a Gibson martini. The really insane part is that I am a huge William Gibson fan. What are the odds?
 
Also, John F. Kennedy was shot by a guy in a warehouse who then fled and tried to hide in a theater, while Abraham Lincoln was shot by a guy in a theater who then fled and tried to hide in a warehouse. Or well, Booth actually was found hiding in a barn, but like everyone has decided that's close enough to "a warehouse" that it's okay to call it one to make the coincidence work.
 
Out of all the millions and millions of combinations of things one can see or hear or whatever every single day of one's life it would be odder if there were not a few coincidences...

Think of the birthday thing, in which everyone seems to under-estimate the probability of folk having the same birthday.

That and them not understanding "random" - my late mother-in-law refused to believe that an ordered sequence of numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) could ever happen randomly...
 
theprestige said:
Last night I started bingeing The Queen's Gambit. Right away in the first episode, the premise of the story reminded me of "Dogfight", a short story by William Gibson. Then, in the second episode, the characters stay in the Gibson Hotel, and one of them drinks a Gibson martini. The really insane part is that I am a huge William Gibson fan. What are the odds?
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That is crazy. I had never even heard of this show until today when you mentioned it and now I just saw 2 reviews for it online
 
Checkmite said:
Also, John F. Kennedy was shot by a guy in a warehouse who then fled and tried to hide in a theater, while Abraham Lincoln was shot by a guy in a theater who then fled and tried to hide in a warehouse. Or well, Booth actually was found hiding in a barn, but like everyone has decided that's close enough to "a warehouse" that it's okay to call it one to make the coincidence work.
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Also crazy, I just saw someone talk about this yesterday
 
Working remotely means I have to do a lot more multi-factor authentication (MFA) to get into work applications. So I end up receiving a *lot* of six-digit codes via text message. At first I was kind of excited every time there was an "unusual" number sequence, like double doubles or a three-digit straight or a double-increment (like 6364, 9897, etc.). Then I realized that with only 10 digits to choose from, and the volume of events, these kinds of coincidental number sequences were going to be entirely commonplace. I assume that with 7 billion people on the planet, everyone is having crazy coincidences all the time.

---

Many years ago, I pointed out to my buddy that if he's "one in a million", that means there are five people in New York just like him. His response: "So somone in New York right now is wondering if Soundwave is the coolest Decepticon."
 
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