The New-York-based radio show Radiolab recently had an hourlong general-interest program on the topic of stochasticity. (Yes, that was even what they titled it.) Here's their description:
This hour, Radiolab examines Stochasticity, which is just a wonderfully slippery and smarty-pants word for randomness. How big a role does randomness play in our lives? Do we live in a world of magic and meaning or … is it all just chance and happenstance? To tackle this question, we look at the role chance and randomness play in sports, lottery tickets, and even the cells in our own body. Along the way, we talk to a woman suddenly consumed by a frenzied gambling addiction, two friends whose meeting seems purely providential, and some very noisy bacteria.
The whole hour is a great listen - I actually caught this on the radio at the time and had one of those "driveway moments" sitting in the car listening to the whole thing. But if you're short on time, be sure to check out Part 1 (A Lucky Wind) with an fascinating look at coincidences (which mightn't be as coincident-y as things first appear), and a cool classroom experiment in detecting real versus fake randomness.
Radio Lab: Stochasticity
Make sure to listen to Are We Coins?, which corrects a big error they made in the segment about "hot streaks".
They don't just correct their error, but create an equally interesting episode.
Posted by: Adam | November 10, 2009 at 07:11