Comments by "EebstertheGreat" (@EebstertheGreat) on "Why is this number everywhere?" video.

  1. Not gonna lie, I found this video deeply unconvincing. You say "we could argue special coincidences for any number." Yeah. We can. 37 isn't even the favorite "random number." That's indisputably 7. 37 is just another peak, and not always the second-highest. Note that the magic trick gave only 8 possibilities (13, 15, 17, 19, 31, 35, 37, 39) and had contingencies for all of them. It doesn't really rely on the audience picking 37. It's certainly true that when people pick "random numbers," some are more likely than others. In particular, odd numbers are more likely than even numbers, and round numbers are very unlikely, because we associate "random" with "not fitting an obvious pattern," and roundness and evenness feel "obvious." In that way, 37 is more likely than most because it isn't a number we associate strongly with anything in particular, not because it is.
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  2. This isn't begging the question, it is affirming the consequent. The logic goes like this. "If 37 is a special number, there will be all kinds of special coincidences surrounding it. There are all kinds of special coincidences surrounding it. Therefore 37 is a special number." It's the same reasoning as this: "If Barrack Obama is a cat, he has four limbs. He has four limbs. Therefore Barrack Obama is a cat." Clearly this argument is invalid. Begging the question is different: it involves assuming the implication holds and using that to prove itself. For instance, "all living things require sunlight. There is no sunlight in caves. Therefore there are no living things in caves." Clearly the assumption at the start of this "proof" assumes the conclusion. We don't know that all living things require sunlight until we have checked the caves. Nevertheless, it is a valid argument, in that the conclusion does follow from the premise. This is usually how begging the question works, since the proof takes the form "A therefore A," which is a valid (though useless) argument.
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  3.  @allisons6910  They removed 1, 2, 7, 42, 69, 99, and 100 because they were all higher than 37 lol.
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