A Professor of Behavioral Science, and Director of the Center for Decision Research. He studies social cognition, how thinking people think about other thinking people and understand why smart people so routinely misunderstand each other. And Joseph Mazur, who is a professor of Mathematics and author of multiple books on understanding the world through maths.

Why we tend to bump into people we know coincidentally more often than we think

Stories and examples of coincidences and breaking it down with probabilities and maths

How randomness would actually look a lot more ordered in the real world

Coincidences can feel like magic. When we realize that a co-worker shares our birthday or run into a college roommate while on vacation, it can give us a surge of delight. Today, we revisit a favorite episode about these moments of serendipity. Mathematician Joseph Mazur explains why coincidences aren't as unlikely as we think they are, and psychologist Nicholas Epley tells us why we can't help but find meaning in them anyway. 

Hidden Brain

Coincidences can feel like magic. When we realize that a co-worker shares our birthday or run into a college roommate while on vacation, it can give us a surge of delight. Today, we revisit a favorite episode about these moments of serendipity. Mathematician <a href="http://www.josephmazur.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Joseph Mazur</a> explains why coincidences aren't as unlikely as we think they are, and psychologist <a href="https://www.chicagobooth.edu/faculty/directory/e/nicholas-epley" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nicholas Epley</a> tells us why we can't help but find meaning in them anyway.

What are the Odds?

There are so many people doing so many things in the world that the chances of something unusual happening is actually a lot higher than they seem. Whatever can happen will eventually happen, so long as we allow for enough time and chances.

When you have a large enough sample, seemingly impossible things will happen.

Because it is through story, that we're taken along a journey, one where we can often relate to. And this is why words on a paper can take us to a magical place, throughout a great story.

Interesting facts are nice, but it's stories that we find the most fascinating.

We're often so caught up with trying to find or create an explanation for something so that it makes sense to us, that we do so even when there isn't one. If everything in the world has an explanation, we're likely forgetting that no explanation is also an important one.

The problem with any good tool, is that we end up using it too much.

Can you think of a good tool in life that you may use too much?

"It's hard to believe in coincidence, but it's even harder to believe in anything else."