Patterns are everywhere: both in the wonders of nature and in the man-made world. They exist in the formations of crystals and clouds, in art and music, and in math and science. It is therefore no surprise that we, as inhabitants of this pattern filled world, are wired to find them.
And it's not only humans that have this ability; pattern recognition is a skill shared by all mammals. Since the first primates learned that certain weather patterns meant a storm and others meant it was time to hunt, life on this planet has both created and responded to patterns for survival.
But questions remain: Why patterns? What laws of physics demand their presence and why, at least in the physical world, is order preferred over chaos? In our quest to bend the discord of our daily lives to the symmetry of our natural surroundings we may yet need to solve these fundamental mysteries. We are hoping to be done with that by the end of this hour.
Comment below, email Colin@wnpr.org, or tweet @wnprcolin.
GUESTS:
- Dr. Michael Shermer- Science writer, historian and founder of The Skeptics Society. He’s the author of a dozen books including The New York Times bestselling The Believing Brain
- Dr. John Amoroso- Clinical psychologist and mental health instructor at Atlantic University in Virginia. He’s Author of Awakening Past Lives
- Dr. John Briggs- Professor in the English Dept. at Western Connecticut State University. He’s the author of Fractals: The Patterns of Chaos and Turbulent Mirror
MUSIC:
- “Patterns” by Devo
- “Patterns” by Simon & Garfunkel
- “Patterns” by Weird Al
