THE VIDEO SHELF · spurious patterns in random data
Clutching at Random Straws, Matt Parker | LMS Popular Lectures 2010
Matt Parker's LMS popular lecture on how seemingly incredible results can be meaningless random patterns. He ranges from ancient Woolworths civilisations to shoelaces and DNA.
Why HN readers recommended it
Used to illustrate that humans pattern-match and find spurious patterns in enough data points.
This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.
Video & recommendation details
- Creator / channel
- London Mathematical Society
- Topic
- spurious patterns in random data
- Format
- lecture
- Level
- general
- HN recommenders in dataset
- 2
- HN mentions in dataset
- 3
- Recommendation years in dataset
- 2017–2024
These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.
From the original HN conversations
Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.
Matt Parker (standupmath at youtube) does a presentation he calls "Clutching at Random Straws". It doesn't, as far as I can recall, specifically deal with Mondegreens, but about 38 minutes in he does a fun demonstration of how perception is a process of actively patternmatching …
Tistron on Hacker News · 2017-05
In FBI Investigation: “Louie Louie”, The Song (1964)Matt Parker ("Stand up Maths" channel on YouTube) gave a very informative and entertaining lecture in 2010 titled "Clutching at Random Straws" [0], which, among other things, covered something similar. From the subtitle of the video: "Did aliens help prehistoric Britons find the ancient Woolworths …
OnACoffeeBreak on Hacker News · 2024-06
In Saint Michael Sword: Are the cathedrals really on a straight line?
Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.