Me and my mother are often in debates. In the most recent one, she said something similar to what a character in Halo 2 said about blasphemy/heresy. I jokingly said because The Arbiter (it was actually a different character I was mistaken) said something about heresy then we should worship the arbiter. She said she was watching the bible mini series and the voice actor was the arbiter, and god was speaking to me through the character.


Obviously she values coincidences highly, I dont really, where do you guys stand on coincidences?

Everything that happens is "a coincidence" if viewed a certain way. People irrationally apply extra significance to events, it seems to be a natural human trait.

And obviously there's confirmation bias; no one comments on the billions of things happening all the time that they don't consider a coincidence.

(March 26, 2016 at 3:39 pm)robvalue Wrote: Everything that happens is "a coincidence" if viewed a certain way. People irrationally apply extra significance to events, it seems to be a natural human trait.

And obviously there's confirmation bias; no one comments on the billions of things happening all the time that they don't consider a coincidence.

There was another coincidence the other day, we both mentioned the great flood at the same time.

Yea, people always seem to take normally insignificant things and give them some significance.

There is a story of a quran surviving a fire that killed 4, but if I gave that to her she would deny it.

I used coincidence for my foundation of spirituality for years. I never really bought the Bible and God stuff. But, for many years I felt that something was guiding people and things happened for a reason. That coincidence really meant something bigger than me was in charge ..
I don't feel that way anymore, I do believe coincidence is just that, and no more.

(March 26, 2016 at 3:52 pm)GeneralDog Wrote: There was another coincidence the other day, we both mentioned the great flood at the same time.

That's a jinks, not a coincidence. You should have claimed your right as jinks master and enjoyed the silence until someone spoke her name.

I recall the time I was having a particularly vivid dream about my son being involved in a serious motorbike crash in Germany. The very moment I woke up sweating and gasping for breath, the bedside phone rang. I picked up, and it was Sgt. Hans Schleketer of the Dusseldorf police, calling to inform me that I never had a son.

Coincidence? You decide...

Boru

(March 26, 2016 at 3:09 pm)GeneralDog Wrote: Me and my mother are often in debates. In the most recent one, she said something similar to what a character in Halo 2 said about blasphemy/heresy. I jokingly said because The Arbiter (it was actually a different character I was mistaken) said something about heresy then we should worship the arbiter. She said she was watching the bible mini series and the voice actor was the arbiter, and god was speaking to me through the character.


Obviously she values coincidences highly, I dont really, where do you guys stand on coincidences?

Voice actors are a pretty insular group, especially among the more popular ones.  We hear their voices everywhere, and Keith David is no exception.  He's also voice acted as:

Goliath in Disney's Gargoyles
Captain/Admiral Anderson in Mass Effect
Despero in Justice League
The narrator for Navy ads
The narrator for UPS ads
Etc.
Etc.

Does god want you to join the Navy?  Work for UPS?  Become a comic book villain?  No, man, it's just easy paychecks because he has a cool voice.  The bible miniseries was just another job for him.  I guess Morgan Freeman wasn't available that week.

And, if she really thinks coincidences mean anything, her brain would melt if she looked at, say, Frank Welker's career, or Steve Blum's.

(March 26, 2016 at 3:09 pm)GeneralDog Wrote: Me and my mother are often in debates. In the most recent one, she said something similar to what a character in Halo 2 said about blasphemy/heresy. I jokingly said because The Arbiter (it was actually a different character I was mistaken) said something about heresy then we should worship the arbiter. She said she was watching the bible mini series and the voice actor was the arbiter, and god was speaking to me through the character.


Obviously she values coincidences highly, I dont really, where do you guys stand on coincidences?

I think that they are, well, coincidental.

There is a guy that I'm forced to interact with that believes every good coincidence is a miracle and every bad one is just that, bad luck.

(March 26, 2016 at 3:39 pm)robvalue Wrote: Everything that happens is "a coincidence" if viewed a certain way. People irrationally apply extra significance to events, it seems to be a natural human trait.

And obviously there's confirmation bias; no one comments on the billions of things happening all the time that they don't consider a coincidence.

The word for that is Apophenia. 

[source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia]