The Mathematical Structure of Terrorism

June 10, 2006 3:10 PM

It's all one's and zero's eh? The complex patterns of the natural world often turn out to be governed by relatively simple mathematical relationships. A seashell grows at a rate proportional to its size, resulting in a delicate spiral. The gossamer network of galaxies results from the simple interplay between cosmic expansion and the force of gravity over a wide range of scales. As our catalogue of natural phenomena has grown more complete, more and more scientists have begun to look for interesting patterns in human society.
posted by Unregistered User (17 comments total)

Schrodingers Cat and the Golden Bough?
posted by Unregistered User at 3:12 PM on June 10, 2006

Could have linked to the original article but that might not go through some people's porn filters.
posted by delmoi at 3:16 PM on June 10, 2006

It's all one's and zero's eh? The complex patterns of the natural world often turn out to be governed by relatively simple mathematical relationships.

Some believe that's expected.
posted by Gyan at 3:18 PM on June 10, 2006

Eureka? Eureka!
posted by Smart Dalek at 3:28 PM on June 10, 2006

Articles such as this are probably what led to the creation of NUMB3RS.
posted by graventy at 3:32 PM on June 10, 2006

Articles such as this are probably what led to the creation of NUMB3RS

Or this??
posted by Unregistered User at 3:43 PM on June 10, 2006

Is it significant that the numbers in play here are 2, 3, and 5? Or am I just too distracted by the hideous interplay of 23 and 5 to see a "reasonable" explanation here?
posted by OverlappingElvis at 4:06 PM on June 10, 2006

so...Pynchon was right?

("They're falling in a Poisson distribution," says Pointsman in a small voice, as if it was open to challenge.)
posted by paul_smatatoes at 4:08 PM on June 10, 2006

Argh! Hyphen heresy!
posted by Acey at 4:36 PM on June 10, 2006

Make that apostrophe apocalypse :P
posted by Acey at 4:36 PM on June 10, 2006

The soldier and the Hunchback.
posted by Balisong at 5:38 PM on June 10, 2006

Psychohistory anyone?
posted by cardoso at 7:11 PM on June 10, 2006

If you're interested in this sort of thing, check out "The Golden Ratio : The Story of PHI, the World's Most Astonishing Number," it's a good read. There's some crazy ass shit with phi, I mean it, seriously crazy ass shit.
posted by pwb503 at 8:01 PM on June 10, 2006

OverlappingElvis: I just read the Illuminatus! trilogy too!
posted by Iax at 10:03 PM on June 10, 2006

Comma conflagration.
posted by adamvasco at 4:46 AM on June 11, 2006

Isn't this kind of what this guy says?
posted by Zinger at 7:12 AM on June 11, 2006

All of this universe is maths.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:24 AM on June 11, 2006