Hacker News Reader

Comment by ssijak | Hacker News Reader

I don`t know how to call this effect, but often I look to learn about something specific and later that day the same topic pops up on the front page of HN. Earlier today I googled about "algebra and lambda calculus" and variations of that and lo and behold this peice on the front page few hours later. Is this some kind of advanced geek ad tracking or what? :D

View on HN

Carl Jung termed the phenomenon synchronicity [1], "which holds that events are 'meaningful coincidences' if they occur with no causal relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related." Google the philosophy of information, phenomenology, and "the world is made of meaning." Also related is the phenomenon of multiple discovery / simultaneous invention [2]. Ironically, this is in-part what the Curry–Howard correspondence is about, with the Church–Turing thesis being a prime example [3].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church–Turing_thesis

It's the frequency illusion (also known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon).

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion

also known coloquially as 'blue car syndrome'.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Blue%20Car%2...

How do we know this is an illusion? Has anyone reproduced the illusion reliably?

It could be that, by searching for it, you're more likely to find it ;) Had you not searched for it, maybe this article wouldn't have been noticed.

I think there's a name for this effect, but i can't recall it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com