Synchronicity - What's your experience of it?

[John J.]

Interesting. I also grew up saying "night night" as did my parents.

I did too. Probably most of the other English speakers on metabunk did as well. However, I really don't remember reading it unless the character was a child or talking to a child. I may have just not noticed it. The book was Agatha Christie's "Seven Dials", which is populated with upper class British young adults saying clever things. It seemed so out of character for them that it caught my attention.

Same here (in the UK). It had never occurred to me that "night-night" or "nighty-night" might not be a commonplace phrase (in English-speaking countries) until now!
Just an informal / affectionate "goodnight" at bedtime. I don't think there are any class connotations.

There was a BBC TV black comedy called Nighty Night some years ago, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighty_Night.

 

[Ann K]

The Irvington Stories
by Dodge, Mary Mapes, 1830-1905; H.H. Bancroft and Company; Darley, Felix Octavius Carr, 1822-1888; Alvord, C. A

HERE (Internet Archive) is the page in the collection of stories with one of the first literary instances of the use of the interjection / colloquialism "night night".

Notably, it's spoken to children. Christie's use of the phrase seems appropriate for her depiction of the sort of idle-rich young adults of the era, using "cute" baby talk with each other.

Edit to add: I wondered where I had heard the author's name before, so looked her up in Wikipedia. She wrote "Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates" which I read a lifetime ago (I think the book was in my school classroom), but her biography is an interesting read.

She was able to persuade many of the great writers of the world to contribute to her children's magazine – Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Bret Harte, John Hay, Charles Dudley Warner, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, and scores of others. One day, Rudyard Kipling told her a story of the Indian jungle; Dodge asked him to write it down for St. Nicholas. He never had written for children, but he would try. The result was The Jungle Book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mapes_Dodge

 

[Todd Feinman]

Notably, it's spoken to children. Christie's use of the phrase seems appropriate for her depiction of the sort of idle-rich young adults of the era, using "cute" baby talk with each other.

Edit to add: I wondered where I had heard the author's name before, so looked her up in Wikipedia. She wrote "Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates" which I read a lifetime ago (I think the book was in my school classroom), but her biography is an interesting read.

She was able to persuade many of the great writers of the world to contribute to her children's magazine – Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Bret Harte, John Hay, Charles Dudley Warner, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, and scores of others. One day, Rudyard Kipling told her a story of the Indian jungle; Dodge asked him to write it down for St. Nicholas. He never had written for children, but he would try. The result was The Jungle Book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mapes_Dodge

Google AI says she was widely read in the US and the UK; we had and still have copies of Hans Brinker in the library where I worked. I remember seeing copies of it.

 

[Todd Feinman]

When I was a kid my mom and dad and I lived in Lake Oswego for a bit while my dad was in law school. My mother taught me to read with a book called Rusty's Spaceship. Great sciencey book for kids. Moved away back to Eugene. Then in my 20s, returned to LO and worked there for 30+ years. I found out the author of the book I read as a kid had been a local author and had passed away while I was at the library, her service was less than a mile away. Many years later when I was in my 40s my mother was able to find a mint condition unused copy, and she gave it to me in my birthday.
<edit> I was just looking at a synopsis of the book, and I see that it was a flying saucer that was used to make the spaceship real and fly; I'd forgotten that part of the story!
I remember the alien; he reminded me of the Cat in the Hat. As I just typed "cat" the guest on Democracy Watch simultaneously said the word. There's the synchronicity connection; childless cat ladies??

 

[Diva]

Synchronicity strikes again! I'm in the middle of watching "Seven Dials" on BritBox.

Great minds think alike, huh?

 

[Diva]

I remember the alien; he reminded me of the Cat in the Hat. As I just typed "cat" the guest on Democracy Watch simultaneously said the word. There's the synchronicity connection; childless cat ladies??

Oh no! I've been outed! Although no cats right now.

 

[Todd Feinman]

Oh no! I've been outed! Although no cats right now.

I am but a tool and messenger from your future cat. For real.
"Meow, Diva, Meow!"
"Prepare the soft bed, and ready the canned tuna!" "Meow, Diva, Meow!"
"Night night, Kitty"
"Night night, Diva"

 

[Todd Feinman]

Okay, this is likely OT, depending on how you look at universe. So, I have a little hobby whereby I go to Wikipedia and put my finger over the random article button. I draw a series of squares (just started doing this), and I close my eyes and visualize the white screen, and draw my visual impression of what will appear when I click the button. Not every Wikipedia page has a picture, so I rule those out. Then I compare my impression of the future with the image that appears on the page when I click the button. Sometimes things are surprising.
I just did three, the second page didn't have a picture.

Drawing 1:

Wiki page picture:

Second try = no picture.


Drawing 3:

And Wiki page 3 picture:

The sheet:

 

[Ann K]

I close my eyes and visualize the white screen, and draw my visual impression of what will appear when I click the button.

I think perhaps you are measuring your own ability to fool yourself, as you search for a meaning that doesn't exist.

 

[Todd Feinman]

I think perhaps you are measuring your own ability to fool yourself, as you search for a meaning that doesn't exist.

Still a fun hobby.

 

[Mendel]

Okay, this is likely OT, depending on how you look at universe. So, I have a little hobby whereby I go to Wikipedia and put my finger over the random article button. I draw a series of squares (just started doing this), and I close my eyes and visualize the white screen, and draw my visual impression of what will appear when I click the button. Not every Wikipedia page has a picture, so I rule those out. Then I compare my impression of the future with the image that appears on the page when I click the button. Sometimes things are surprising.

But these were not.
Any correspondences are "remote viewing" quality, aka the result of an effort to manufacture a connection after the fact that is utterly useless as a prediction.

 

[Todd Feinman]

But these were not.
Sny correspondences are "remote viewing" quality, aka the result of an effort to manufacture a connection after the fact that is utterly useless as a prediction.

I think it would be fun to compare results with an AI tool for visual similarities with the other pictures on Wikipedia.

 

[deirdre]

I think i got Kristi Noem fired. oops.

 

[Todd Feinman]

I was just reading an article about human composting that came up when I was searching for for stuff about Alameda County:
https://abc30.com/amp/post/allegations-made-fresno-county-winery-human-composting/18683034/

And at the same time I was listening to Deutsche Welle on TV, and the guest said "you can spread people around" while I was reading the article. Guest was referring to immigration.

Alright. Gotta do other stuff.

 

[FatPhil]

I think i got Kristi Noem fired. oops.

Have you confused synchronicity with coincidence? If so, thank you for demonstrating the problem with the concept of synchronicity. If, however, it was just a joke - erm, humour is a matter of personal taste.

 

[deirdre]

If so, thank you for demonstrating the problem with the concept of synchronicity

so if my answer is "no", then there is no problem with the concept of synchronicity? very cool of you to have such an open mind.

 

[FatPhil]

so if my answer is "no", then there is no problem with the concept of synchronicity? very cool of you to have such an open mind.

That's not how logic works.

 

[Todd Feinman]

Okay, one more.
At the UofO in 1988, I took my first class in oil painting, from Frank Okada, now deceased. The first oil painting I ever did, was a picture with a lot of geometric patterns, but in the middle, of these somewhat symmetric designs was a human face/head, with a white turban head wrap. His complexion was pretty dark. Near the top of the picture was a grim reaper figure scything down a cathedral, which had one tower. I don't remember why I painted that picture the way I did. I had seen some Dali before, and grew up with Rembrandt and Picasso pictures on my bedroom walls when I was a kid, fwiw.
Anyway, that picture always stuck in my mind, being my first painting. Okada told me at the group critique that I was wasting my time painting symbolic stuff; his work was very abstract, and unfortunately he used his bare hands to paint with sometimes..
So, when Bin Laden turned up later and 9/11 happened, I remembered my painting, but my painting showed a single cathedral. So, last night I thought I'd just type in Bin Laden attack cathedral into Google and up came the foiled plot to attack the Strasbourg Cathedral (Strasbourg Cathedral bombing plot). The cathedral looks pretty close to what I painted.
I did show the painting to a friend, I'm not in contact with him anymore. Too bad we all didn't have cell phones with cameras back then. Maybe. Anyway, I can't think of any more weird stuff in my life related to synchronicities / precognitions.

 

[Todd Feinman]

Watching YouTube, and this juxtaposition popped up. The Ecstasy of St. Teresa next to the Ecstasy of the Chihuahua! ..

 

[FatPhil]

This just happened. However, as it's politically related and transpondian, I'll hide it in a spoiler. If you know you're not going to to like the kind of things I post in that field, just scroll past.

Spoiler: back to back posts in a xitter feed

Firsly, there was this somewhat-funny-if-true photo apparently from the DoJ:

Which started a very brief discussion about how people gain and lose positions of responsibility, where I stressed awareness of the "it's not what you know, it's who you know" situation - citing several examples from the UK scene. However, I finished that point with "but at least even idiots like Boris left with fairly in-depth knowledge of classics", with the coda "but some of your (I'm a Brit, g/f is a yank) idiots have Harvard degress and aparently know less than nothing" - which was met with agreement, and we moved on.

And then the next post in my feed had this image:

It's hard to facepalm when your jaw is at ground level, but we both managed it.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I googled his name...

Education: Harvard University

-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Erlanger

And for those who doubt the synchronicity:

 

[Todd Feinman]

I had quite a start this morning. About 6 am? This morning I was asleep and dreaming. Nothing unusual about dream, just usual stuff. When I dream, I typically go the same places, which are like an interesting parallel to waking life, but predictable. Architecture in dreams is a synthesis of interesting spaces I have been in. Not a ton happens, but there is a feeling of meaning that pervades it.
Anyway, my dog died a couple of years ago, and it was difficult for me, and will always be, because we were so connected. My dog never appeared in my dreams when he was alive and after he died. The absence was always interesting to me.
So, dreaming early this morning, my dream was suddenly interrupted by a sharp insistent bark-whine, that shattered my dream the way a sharp sound startles you when your eyes are closed and you are relaxed. The "sound" woke me up suddenly. It was a noise I knew well; it was my dog Henry. I don't believe it was a real sound, but it was something intrusive I had never experienced before while dreaming. It hit my dream broadside, with zero warning. So I began to think if there was something significant that had occurred in the past on this date with my dog, but I could think of nothing. I didn't know his exact birthday, but he seemed to be about nine months old when I got him long ago on my mother's birthday in February. So I just thought it was weird. In a last ditch attempt I googled holidays occurring today. Today turns out to be National Pet Day!
I will make this day his birthday, too. Adds up. Subjective or not, I am very thankful for this experience. BTW, My dog would never wake me up, I would always wake him up.

 

[bugalou]

Those of you who are older here and remember land line telephones, have you experienced picking up the phone dialing and calling someone only to get a busy signal; When you finally do get a hold of the person you find out they were calling you are the exact same time you were calling them and that caused the lines to busy out? This happened to me a bunch of times and I always found it a little eerie. It would happen with calls that were not scheduled, routine, or otherwise have a pattern. I had it happen a time or two with people I only talked to a few times in a year.

I don't know if smartphones behave the same, and their ubiquity makes this slightly less extraordinary. They are always next to you, everyone has one, and they are completely mobile. With a land line both people had to be home or at the office, with no other means of engaging each other or triggering one to think about the other person, and you had to physically dial the numbers. The landline experiences I had with this back in the 90s stuck with me as memories to this day this thread made me curious if anyone else had this kind of synchronicity occur too.

 

[Giddierone]

This just seems like coincidence rather than synchronicity—which is a profound coincidence with seemingly no possible explanation.
I think this kind of thing has happened numerous times in my memory of pre-mobile phones when the window for calling friends was after 6pm (when calls were cheaper) and after tea time (around the same time) so it made it more likely that two people would begin the process of making a call at that time-hence the coincidence.
Rupert Sheldrake has written variously about what he calls "telephone telepathy", e.g. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26048628/
Just seems fairly probable IMO.

 

[FatPhil]

Rupert Sheldrake has written variously about what he calls "telephone telepathy", e.g. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26048628/
Just seems fairly probable IMO.

If Sheldrake's hypothesis is confirmed only by an experiment performed by Sheldrake and his croneys, then I give it almost no weight. He's been pushing woo since the 80s - with science so not-even-science it sparked the "A Book For Burning?" controversy in Nature - probably earlier.

"A book for burning?"

In September 1981, Nature's senior editor, John Maddox, published an editorial about A New Science of Life titled "A book for burning?"[2][7] It commented:

Sheldrake's book is a splendid illustration of the widespread public misconception of what science is about. In reality, Sheldrake's argument is in no sense a scientific argument but is an exercise in pseudo-science ... Many readers will be left with the impression that Sheldrake has succeeded in finding a place for magic within scientific discussion—and this, indeed, may have been a part of the objective of writing such a book.[7]

Maddox argued that Sheldrake's hypothesis was not testable or "falsifiable in Popper's sense", referring to the philosopher Karl Popper. He said Sheldrake's proposals for testing his hypothesis were "time-consuming, inconclusive in the sense that it will always be possible to account for another morphogenetic field and impractical."[7] Maddox rejected the suggestion that the book should be burned,[7] but his piece's title garnered widespread publicity.

-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Sheldrake#"A_book_for_burning?"

So, I'd say we can file this alongside Bem in the cylindrical filing cabinet until the replication study is published.

EDIT: more from that wikipedia article (with emphasis mine) ...

Sheldrake and Steven Rose

During 1987 and 1988 Sheldrake contributed several pieces to The Guardian's "Body and Soul" column. In one of these, he wrote that the idea that "memories were stored in our brains" was "only a theory" and "despite decades of research, the phenomenon of memory remains mysterious."[121] This provoked a response by Steven Rose, a neuroscientist from the Open University, who criticised Sheldrake for being "a researcher trained in another discipline" (botany) for not "respect[ing] the data collected by neuroscientists before begin[ning] to offer us alternative explanations," and accused Sheldrake of "ignoring or denying" "massive evidence," and arguing that "neuroscience over the past two decades has shown that memories are stored in specific changes in brain cells." Giving an example of experiments on chicks, Rose asserted "egregious errors that Sheldrake makes to bolster his case that demands a new vague but all-embracing theory to resolve."[27]

[...]

In 1990, Sheldrake and Rose agreed to and arranged a test of the morphic resonance hypothesis using chicks.[126][127] They were unable to agree on the intended joint research paper reporting their results,[127] instead publishing separate and conflicting interpretations. Sheldrake published a paper stating that the results matched his prediction that day-old chicks would be influenced by the experiences of previous batches of day-old chicks—"From the point of view of the hypothesis of formative causation, the results of this experiment are encouraging"—and called for further research.[128] Rose wrote that morphic resonance was a "hypothesis disconfirmed."[20] He also made further criticisms of morphic resonance, and stated that "the experience of this collaboration has convinced me in practice, Sheldrake is so committed to his hypothesis that it is very hard to envisage the circumstances in which he would accept its disconfirmation."[20] Rose asked Patrick Bateson to analyse the data, and Bateson offered his opinion that Sheldrake's interpretation of the data was "misleading" and attributable to experimenter effects.[20]

 

[John J.]

Those of you who are older here and remember land line telephones, have you experienced picking up the phone dialing and calling someone only to get a busy signal; When you finally do get a hold of the person you find out they were calling you are the exact same time you were calling them and that caused the lines to busy out? This happened to me a bunch of times and I always found it a little eerie.

Never happened to me, but when I was a kid (in the UK) and my eldest sister went away to college, this seemed to happen at least a couple of times when she 'phoned home/ Mum or Dad 'phoned her, though no definite arrangement had been made to talk on the 'phone at that time.
I remember it caused mild interest/ amusement to my parents and telepathy was mentioned, but jokingly.

Thinking about it in more recent years, it's maybe not so great a coincidence. In the UK in the 'phone calls were cheaper after 6 p.m., at least in the 70's/ 80's. Our Dad didn't approve of non-essential long-distance calls before 6 p.m. (which might seem penny-pinching but vaguely recall this wasn't unusual at the time) and students rarely have much money- but they often have work to do or social stuff going on later in the evening.
I'd guess many of these calls were made a short time after six o'clock.

Probably requires some pretty broad tolerances (or whatever the term might be) by the analogue network, I doubt many of these "simultaneous" calls were truly simultaneous. Do we have any old-school telephone engineers? Apparently manual switchboards ended in 1960.

Do you guys in other countries have similar tales?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Off-topic, but thinking of telephone weirdness:
There was a 70s/ 80s urban legend in the UK about people making 'phone calls and unexpectedly hearing a steady female voice saying
"Help me, Susie's dying"
or some similar phrase.

Just had a quick look online, there's an account of this with some additional details (along with a bit of theorizing) on the Spooky Isles website, "'Help Me, Help Me! Suzie's Dying!'", 02 October 2022, Les Hewitt https://www.spookyisles.com/help-me-help-me-suzies-dying/

The additional details in the Spooky Isles account might or might not be accurate:
-associated with specific 'phone numbers, which no-one remembers (so claimants misdialling a commonly used number can't be ruled out).
-associated with public call boxes
-mainly around Burnley in northern England (though the story was known elsewhere).

Whatever the message relayed, the voice on the other end belonged to a woman who spoke in a dull, deadpan voice that bore no hint of emotion or interest. ... A caller that remained on the line would hear the message repeat on some kind of loop or cycle.

(NB, the "dull, deadpan voice" without emotion rather contradicts the author's use of exclamation marks in his title).

The last bit is interesting; the message is probably a recording. The "Speaking Clock" and (IIRC) other recorded service messages on the UK telephone network around that time were usually recordings of women's voices, very deliberately annunciated but perhaps not always so clear at the other end of an analogue line.

I remember reading a possible explanation; maybe callers had stumbled across a recorded test or line availability message along the lines of
"Hold please, someone's dialling" (or "Hold please, users dialling").

 

[bugalou]

Strange land line calls, especially during odd hours, use to really freak me out. I wouldn't answer unknown or blocked numbers on the CID after 10 PM.
We had a few pretty well known cases of things like you described here in the states too in 80s and 90s.