“The distribution of birth numbers for all Nobel Prize winners does not deviate significantly from chance,” notes the paper. To put it bluntly, the answer is: literally nothing. Seems straightforward enough, right? So, what did the results show? Thus, we would expect to find differences in the birth number distribution across prize categories.” “In addition, we would expect different prize categories (chemistry, economics, literature, medicine, peace, and physics) to call upon different abilities. Operationally, if numerology is true, then the distribution of birth numbers for Nobel Prize winners should significantly diverge from chance,” it continues. “Given the rarity of their accomplishments, numerology should be able to distinguish Nobel laureates from the rest of the population. Back in 2017, one study calculated the birth numbers for more than 800 Nobel Prize winners – people who “have won international recognition for their extraordinary contributions,” the paper notes. How would you test the accuracy of the numerology hypothesis? The most famous may come from Pythagoras, sure, but it’s hardly the only one: there’s the Agrippan method, the Chaldean method, Greek numerals, Hebrew numerals, and that’s just to start.īut let’s say you get past all those issues and arrive at a framework that all numerologists agree on. Perhaps you’ve changed your name entirely at some point – something the vast majority of married women have done, to name just one example.Īnd even at this point, you need to decide what system you’re using to translate letters into numbers. You may have a nickname that you use more often than your legal name, or a middle name that you’ve kept secret for thirty years out of embarrassment. Similarly, many people have a selection of names they go by in various contexts. Working out your birth number, however, only works in base ten, and only using the Western Gregorian calendar. This problem doesn’t occur with real math – the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter will always be pi, for example, regardless of what base you’re using. Some societies also used base-12 and base-60, which we still use to tell time.” Indigenous tribes in Australia, New Guinea, Africa and South America developed number systems that counted in pairs. “However, this system, known as a base-10 system, isn't the only system of counting. This system was developed to allow people to count objects in groups of 10, rather than a single number,” notes Tracy V. “The biggest criticism of numerology is that it's based on an invented system of counting. But there are a couple of problems here already, because the result you get will depend on your culture and chosen numerology chart. It’s not too hard to think of a potential experiment: just work out the birth numbers and name numbers of a sample of people, and see how accurate the resulting predictions are. But can this hypothesis be tested objectively? The hypothesis here is that different organisms evolved over millions of years we can test the hypothesis with radiocarbon dating of fossils and the hypothesis predicts (so far correctly) that, for example, fossils of rabbits will not be found in the Precambrian.ĭoes numerology adhere to this standard? The hypothesis of numerology, presumably, is that adding up the numbers associated with your birthday and name reveals something deep about your personality, destiny, and so on. Let’s look at the theory of evolution as an example – or, at least, one very specific piece of evidence in its favor. Already, we’re going to run into some problems here, because “the” scientific method is kind of a misnomer, but basically what we’re looking for is a hypothesis that can be tested as objectively as possible, which can then be used to make accurate predictions about the world. Perhaps the most obvious test is whether an idea or model adheres to the scientific method. The question of what makes “good science” is not quite as cut-and-dried as you might expect, but there are a few pretty good guidelines that can help us figure out whether an idea should be taken seriously or not. ![]() ![]() What is the difference between science and pseudoscience? In other words, it’s still all based on vibes. In its modern form, it purports to divine occult wisdom about people based on simple math – a practice that most say works due to the “inherent vibrations” of numbers. And while some practitioners may point to numerology’s 2,500-year-old origin story as proof of its longevity, the truth is that the idea pretty much died out until the end of the 19th century.
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