WEBVTT - Invisible World of the No. 7 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.000 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:14.040 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.160 My name is Robert Lamb and my name is Julie Douglas. 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:19.239 And uh, you know, guys, we have to have sponsors, 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.919 and this episode is sponsored in part by the numbers seven. 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.400 Big sponsors were really happy to have landed, uh, this 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.840 particular number as a sponsor because it's, uh, it's pretty magical. 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.640 It's a magical, mystical number that we see in nature, 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.440 we see in culture, it's everywhere. Um. In fact, you 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.519 could say that the number seven is just one of 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:46.120 the underpinnings that we use to piece together reality for us. Yeah, 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:50.000 it's easy to think of numbers as completely arbitrary, especially 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:52.120 as we take in the world around us and apply 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:55.320 these different values to things. But in this episode, we're 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.320 going to stop for a second and think, huh, maybe 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:02.200 there maybe there is something to off this seven. Uh magic. 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.120 It's true because when you start to consider the number 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:08.399 seven and it's relevance in society and again the way 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:10.520 that we organized life, you begin to see a pattern. 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.560 And so the question becomes it's just just our brain's 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:19.800 pattern recognition sinery or is seven somehow just branded into 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:22.440 our brains, and so we're gonna try to tease that 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.400 out a little bit without starting any sort of seven 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.320 conspiracy theories. No. Yeah, we're not going to get into 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:31.959 into numerology, and particularly in this sub podcast, or at 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:33.679 least I'm not going to advocate it, but we will 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:35.720 discuss a number of the things that do occur in 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:39.840 sevens in nature, in culture, in history, and pop culture. 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.319 Um where it's not gonna be a comprehensive list by 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:45.200 any stretch of the imagination, but um, I think we're 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.080 gonna fit a lot of stuff on there. Yeah, okay, well, 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:49.400 let's let's begin with nature. We've got those seven seas, 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:53.880 the seven continents, the seven colors in a rainbow, that's right, 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:58.960 Roy g. BIV. Seven colors. Most mammals have next with 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:01.720 seven bones in them. If you look at the periodic table, 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.280 what do you find? Number of rows is seven? True? 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:09.720 The neutral pH value that lies between acidity and alkalinity 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:13.320 is seven. And should we bet on seven? Seven? Seven? 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.160 A good gambling number? It is? Yes, it turns out, 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:20.280 you know it's a nine right to die? Nine, you know, 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.080 a bit too high, five, a bit too low. But 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.280 seven just right, So it's kind of like the Goldilocks 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:30.720 of numbers. Yes, you often here too, that by age seven, 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.880 the blueprint for adulthood is in place, that a child 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.760 personality is set in stone. In fact, there's a whole 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:41.600 documentary series based on this idea, and the first episode 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:43.440 in the series is called Seven Up. I don't know 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.079 if you've seen this before, but it's a it's a 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:50.480 series in the UK that follows these children at age 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.200 seven and then every seven years. Yeah I think, I 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.600 I'm I'm not quite sure what age they go up to, 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:02.760 but um, well into to the middle ages of these kids, 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:06.400 and it's fascinating to see really how very little these 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:10.280 kids have changed that truly by age seven there's something 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.000 that is set with a personality. Not to be confused though, 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:16.920 with the Seven Ups, the Roy Schneider follow up to 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.400 the French Connection, different film entirely, or the Drink or 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.240 the Drink. Yes, um. Now, of course, when we start 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.400 getting into culture, this is where the list really gets 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:31.040 pretty expansive. So um, you'll have to stop me once 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.359 I get going on this, but just to go back 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:35.680 and forth a little bit there, of course, seven Holy 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.480 Virtues and seven Deadly Sins. We talked about both of 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.520 those in our Seven Deadly Sins, a series that we 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:45.560 did on the science behind each one. And of course 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:50.119 there are seven virtues, and of course if you look 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:52.360 back at religious texts, you will see that seven shows 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.880 up quite a bit. It's a it's quite a fortuitous number. 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.480 And if you look at of course the Bible, there 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:03.320 is that God created the earth in seven days, right um. 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.680 And then of course that has to do with their 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:08.440 the way we arrange our week seven days a week, right, 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.840 seven chakras, the yoga, which we also did a podcast 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:16.200 about a couple of podcasts. Actually, in the Islamic tradition 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.240 there are seven heavens and seven earths, and the number 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:21.520 of fires in Hell, and the numbers of doors to 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.200 both the heaven and the hell is also seven. Yeah. Yeah. 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.640 Various uh maps of hell include seven levels, some a 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.640 little more, some a little less. Um. Among the Babylonians, 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.279 Egyptians and other ancient people's there were thought to be 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:39.159 seven planets. The Hebrew verb for swear means literally to 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.760 come under the influence of seven or beersheba um. Again, 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:45.920 you said there's seven days in creation. Likewise, there are 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.479 seven divisions of the Lord's prayer. The seventh son of 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:52.640 a seventh son will often turn out to be what 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:57.480 magical or Catholic or your boss? Right right? Is our 0:04:57.560 --> 0:04:59.880 boss the seventh son of a seventh son. I don't. 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.640 I'm still thinking about the spare words, and now I'm 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.400 beginning to think about George Carlin and his seven sware 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:08.400 words that you cannot say on TV. There were seven 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.080 meals for Sister Sarah. If you want to go into uh, 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:14.880 into movies, um, seven notes in the musical scale. In 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:19.880 the Apocalypse, the Christian Apocalypse alone, we have seven chronicles 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:24.040 of Asia, seven candlesticks, seven stars, seven trumpets, seven spirits 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:26.960 before the throne of God's seven horns, seven vials, seven plagues, 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:30.400 a seven headed nonster, a lamb was seven eyes because 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.160 the Book of Revelation is is essentially one big death 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.760 metal album cover. UM. In the Spanish myth and fable, 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.360 you have the island of seven Cities. So where seven 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.719 bishops fled the moors in Spain to found these seven 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:47.080 cities that supposedly existed, I mean not really, it's smith uh. 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:50.040 Seven gifts of the spirit. In Japanese folklore, there are 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.799 seven gods of luck uh, seven Hills of Rome, seven 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:58.040 Joys of Mary, seven sacraments uh. Seven senses is interesting 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.520 an ancient notion that the soul of man is comprised 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:04.000 of seven properties under the influence of again those seven 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.600 planets that we mentioned, and likewise, the dark lord Voldemort 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.400 divided his soul into seven hore cruxes. You might remember 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.400 that part um. There are seven Abdal, the Sumerian guardian 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.719 water spirits who were kind of like Merman. Seven Naga 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:22.080 are often seen behind Buddha or the same with Shisha. Uh. 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:24.080 Do you see this in very like Hindu and time 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:28.640 is the serpent like creature? Yeah, especially entire They're crazy 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:30.720 cool because it's like a serpent, and then it's kind 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.200 of a serpent coming out of its head and out 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:37.239 of its head, really beautiful, often golden in appearance. Seven 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.240 dwarves uh. Seven Samurai, seven brides for seven brothers. There 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.640 was a seven year itch. There are seven Narnia books 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:48.200 House of the Seven Gables. Uh. There were a seven 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:52.839 headed demonic giant in Armenian folklore. Um. Oh what else 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.400 do I have on this list? I think there was? Oh, well, 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.600 I had to eventually just stop because it just it 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.120 just kept kept going and going. Yeah, but that's all 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:03.560 all I'm gonna get into right now. Well, of course, 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:05.359 and that makes me think about why we put so 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.680 much importance on the number seven, because it pops up 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:11.520 everywhere and you begin to ascribe luck to it, fortitude 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:13.840 to it, and uh. In fact, I was thinking about 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.560 when you're in Las Vegas, or really any casino for 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:21.120 that matter, the winning number, of course is seven, triple seven. 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.960 That is what is going to make the coins ring 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:28.320 into your po But here's the thing. Before you start 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.400 brushing your teeth seven times, are stirring your coffee seven 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.160 times in a ritual way to to invoke the gods 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.800 of luck, just consider that this is cultural and it 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.240 doesn't necessarily mean in every culture that it is a 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:43.280 good sign of things to come. Yeah, A lot of 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.280 it comes down to how we are this with these 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.320 natural number crunchers. We're always trying to define meaning in 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:51.080 the world around and when we've talked about this a 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.000 lot in the past and about how this can bleed 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:57.120 over into various supernatural beliefs and supernatural understandings of the 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:01.080 world as we try to use our pattern recognizing minds 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.160 just chew up all the data, and so we have 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:05.360 all of the sense data around us, and then we 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.640 we put all this culture over everything. We apply various 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:12.120 numbers to everything, and so it follows that we're going 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:16.320 to end up attaching varying degrees of meaning to different 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.040 things that occur in different numbers. Well in seven too. 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:22.200 It's just something that I think shows up UM in 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.640 different types of media too, because linguistically, it is the 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:29.760 only single digit with two syllables, right, so it just 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.280 kind of falls off the tongue more smoothly. So you 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.199 have uh snow white, and the seven dwarves snow white, 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:38.360 and the five dwarves snow in the six doors it 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:42.680 doesn't work as well, or the five samurai, the eight samurai, 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:45.880 it doesn't really well. The seven summari. There's a pleasure 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:48.640 in saying it's You get into that a lot too. 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.360 With we're talking about this yesterday, particularly in China, there's 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.760 a lot of influence um. Particularly in China. There's a 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:58.880 lot of emphasis on what a number sounds like. So 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.280 like the number four, its like the word for death, 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:04.880 and uh and therefore is to be avoided. Right, So 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:07.520 there is a good measure of magical thinking going on 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:09.559 here when we talk about in number, and maybe in 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.000 the English language, seven sounds like the word happened heaven. 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.120 There was even a show about the seventh Heaven, which 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:20.440 was I think, just all about numerology. All right, okay, 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:22.600 all right, we are going to take a quick break, 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:24.680 but when we get back, we're going to see if 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.800 this whole idea of the number seven is being this mystical, 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:31.480 magical number is somehow a lot into our brains. There's 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.960 some sort of secret there about why we heard it 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:49.840 so much. So we're back, we're talking about the number seven, 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:52.680 what it means to us, and we've mostly just rattled 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:57.560 through various um cultural, historical, geographic, a little science, a 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:59.840 little what have you there, all the different things that 0:09:59.880 --> 0:10:03.040 we attached seven to and why we think it's a 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.599 pretty cool number. But is there more to that? Is 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:08.600 there something? Is there something going on inside the human 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.680 mind that's deeper than that. Well, so there's this idea 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.600 that when it comes to remembering numbers rattling them back 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:18.840 out again, we basically have a seven limit on that, 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.719 give or take it to and certainly there are individuals 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.640 without standing limits to that who can rattle off, you know, 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:28.360 pie to the ode of the ridiculous degree um sixty 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:33.360 seven thousand, nine digit if you're chow Lou, who holds 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:35.800 again as world record for a citing pie. But for 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:40.319 the most part we're hitting significantly lower than that um. 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:42.000 And you know, if you think of anything like your 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.600 social Security number or your phone number, it is worth 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:46.960 noting that you will remember you maybe remembering a digit, 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:50.280 a number longer than seven, but you're remembering it generally 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.320 like three different numbers. Yeah. I was gonna point out 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:57.360 a little interesting anecdote here, and uh, this is our 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.040 video producer and editor Tyler Or was telling me that 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.520 when he memorized pie in school, that he did it 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.400 in chunks of seven. Interesting. So again it places this 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:09.880 idea of anything you you can memorize, but these chunks 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.240 of seven sort of like when we talked about um 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.760 the rooms, the memory recall rooms that we create in 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:17.480 our mind. It's that same sort of idea where if 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.320 you can just make this definitive chunk, then you can 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.640 recall it a lot better. And this is an idea 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:26.120 that George Miller had. Yes, he wrote this excellent, at 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:28.560 times very confusing paper. I find it's not it's not 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.040 necessarily you know, it's not like straight up something you know, 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:32.840 something you would find on a Twitter feed and go 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:34.920 and just you know, consume it over lunch. And he 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.720 gets a little heady and a little mathematical. I mean, 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.000 it's awesome, but it's a you can get lost in 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:43.240 it a bit or I can. Uh. The title of 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.000 the article is the magical number seven plus or minus 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:50.280 two colon some limits on our capacity for processing information. 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.439 And in this uh, he starts off by pointing out 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:55.640 that there is a clear and definite limit to the 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:59.720 accuracy with which we can identify absolutely the magnitude of 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.000 you need dimensional stimulus variable. Uh. There's a span of 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.959 absolute judgment. And part of that is that there is 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.440 a uh, that there is a finite s fan of 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:13.000 immediate memory, and that for a lot of different kinds 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:16.000 of test materials, this span is about seven items in length. 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.160 All right, so we've already hit this seven items I 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.280 can remember. I mean I have trouble remembering like three 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:22.599 things if I need to pick them up at the 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:26.160 grocery store, but ideally I should be able to remember seven. Right, 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.000 if you had to really sit there and concentrate. You 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.400 could do it, and we'll get into why you can 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.439 concentrate for such a limited amount of time. But before 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.000 we do that, I just wanted to mention that if 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.320 you look at memory as this kind of house of memory, 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:40.880 you see that on one side you have, you know, 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.360 long term memory, which is like a library, which a 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.320 bunch of with a bunch of books of your memories 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.400 that you can recall whenever you want, right, just slip 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:51.720 them off, Michelle, look up what you want, right, Yeah, 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.400 change them and then put them back right. Long term memory, 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:56.800 but a short term memory is more like a white 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:58.520 board where you kind of have a cheat sheet to 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:02.240 keep up with the conversation or to remember directions, and 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.240 so it's just kind of there to help you create 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:10.080 some sort of association with what the present topic is. Right, 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:14.560 So if you look at someone like Mikhail Rabinovich and 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:19.520 his uh research into neural pathways, you begin to see 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.320 this idea that seven bears out just in the way 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:28.240 that we have um our neural pathways paved for us 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:32.000 and the limits really of our processing when we're working 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:35.640 with that white board, that working memory. Yes, he was 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:37.960 one of the others on this paper that presented a 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.560 mathematical picture of how neurons fire when we recall a 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.719 sequence of steps, and one of the examples used here 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.679 is is that it's like running across a tight rope 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.440 walker not even a walker, because a walker can take 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.120 his time and go back and forth between the World 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.360 Trade Center buildings. But but this is the idea that 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.040 that you you do not have that ability, you don't 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:00.640 have the big poll. What can you do? You just 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:02.640 have to sort of speed up and go with it. 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.200 How long can you go across that trip wire without 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:08.680 falling off? Yeah? And that trip wire is that neural pathway, right, 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:12.360 And what Rabinovitch discovered is that when a person recites 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.520 a sentence or a list, you can actually see an 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:18.960 excited cluster of neurons fire for each word. And then 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:22.840 these excited clusters create a pathway okay, that that tight 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.240 rope pathway, and at the same time they tamp down 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:31.240 any other competing neurons. Okay, So the competing neurons are 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.560 really like any other memories or any other thoughts that 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:35.760 you might be having at the same time. Okay, which 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:37.760 is really important. When I was saying earlier that you 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:39.640 could really do it if you're concentrated, you can recall 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.200 a certain things. That's what we're talking about. This, these 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:46.280 excited clusters telling everybody to step off, right. So the 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.920 longer the sentence or the string of numbers you try 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.960 to recall, the harder it is for those excited cluster 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.200 of neurons to suppress the others from firing. And then 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:59.120 the weaker the pathway, and then the lousier your your memory. 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.560 So really, what you're seeing here again as a mathematical model, 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.600 as you say, a picture of the seven idea at 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.280 play in your brain. Yeah, this is really interesting and 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:10.080 it ties right back into what I was talking about, 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.200 remembering three things to pick up at the grocery versions 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.160 remembering seven and uh. As they point out in this article, 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:21.120 recalling seven items requires about fifteen times the suppression needed 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:23.560 to recall three. And suppression again, like you say, forcing 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.000 all the other thoughts and competing thoughts out of your 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:28.280 head so that you can remember things. Ten more items 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:30.960 requires fifty times to strength, and twenty or more items 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.200 requires uh, hundreds of times to strength. So even in 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:37.240 the jump from three items to seven items, you see 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.240 this this pretty big jump in the the the amount 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:42.080 of memory. You're gonna have to throw it at the 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:44.920 amount there the cognitive load and the cognitive ramifications of 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:48.000 trying to remember things well, and it's interesting to put 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.120 a number on that cognitive load. We've talked about that 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.040 a lot of times when we're talking about free will 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.960 or well. One of the studies we looked at actually 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.960 involved individuals having to remember a number and then they 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.320 were introduced to the temptation of chocolate cake. And the 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:03.960 individuals who had to hold the longer number in their 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:06.080 in their head, which as I recall, was somewhere in 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:10.200 the in the neighborhood of seven or eight digits, they 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:12.520 had a harder time remembering it if they were introduced 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:15.440 with this to this cake temptation. What I think it's 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:17.440 so interesting is I wonder if those neurons that are 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:19.760 firing those competing ones are like chocolate cake, chocolate cake, 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.520 chocolate cake, like the literally thing that to the excited 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:25.800 cluster that's trying to recall the actual string of numbers. Yeah, 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.040 every time this is probably horrible, But every time I 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.400 think about this about like our limits on remembering numbers, 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:34.880 I think of the movie Running Man, because there was 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.640 the you know, the old Arnold source because there was 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:39.920 a scene in that where the good guys had to 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.320 remember some sort of code and then input it, and 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.160 it was a pretty long code. But they had one 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.520 character that's supposed to be a math whiz or something 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:47.800 I guess, and it was able to hold all these 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:50.000 numbers in his head. But I always found that that 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:51.880 part kind of terrifying because I'm like, oh, my goodness, 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.960 numbers so long, how can anybody remember it? Now, if 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:59.880 certain certain types of autism will actually allow for people 0:16:59.920 --> 0:17:04.320 to have stronger pathways and recall a greater number of numbers, 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.480 and then just some people in general can can sort 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:08.600 of break that seven rule. Yeah, And certainly if you 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:11.320 if you bust out the memory palace on it, then 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:13.840 then you can really go far with it. Right Again, 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.040 there's that idea of storing seven, you know, having a 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.200 chunk of seven and storing maybe five chunks of seven 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:23.720 so that you can really roll out an impressive amount 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:27.600 of items. UM. Now, I wanted to also mention this 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:31.840 really cool study about neurons and dendrites UM. And I 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:33.800 do want to say that it doesn't mean that you know, 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:39.560 the brain is um. The brain especially loves the number seven. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:41.880 But it it does kind of give you pause for thought, 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:46.560 because researchers Miliori, Novora and Togola published a two thousand 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.440 and eight study on neuros and the hippocampus that, of course, 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:51.800 this is the memory input unit of the brain. The 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:55.840 study showed that neurons produced the best information when they're dendrites, 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.840 the branches of a neuron that receives stimulation, when those 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:04.440 branches numbered seven. So again, here's this idea that this 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.439 uh sort of recall fitness has a limit, has a 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:12.760 limit within the neuron structure itself, within the pathway that 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.879 these neurons create, and then within our own ability to 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:18.480 recall information. And of course that brings up this crazy 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.640 idea of well, if we keep ordering the world in sevens, 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:24.159 you know, is it the tail wagging the dog? Is 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.560 that because that's the way our brains are constructed? Do 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.080 we end up falling into the trap of seven rather 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.359 than actually applying it logically? Yeah? Is it more to 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.800 it than just you know, a linguistic lovely sound of seven? Ye, 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:40.160 let's say, Oh, it's because our brains have a constraint 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.320 on them. You know, I can't help but think that 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:46.040 seven also appeals to us in numbering things because seven, 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.399 being an odd number, you have that you have that 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:50.560 room for one of the digits to be a leader, 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:52.679 you know, I guess you know. You have it in 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.439 five as well, you have it in nine, but it 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:59.120 seems most clear in seven because you have I can 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.639 easily picture seven dudes. You have the one dude in 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.000 the middle, and he's flanked by three on each side, 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:06.400 but you have one that stands out. Or if it's 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:08.840 a body of seven voting on something, then you have 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.679 room for there to be a clear majority pretty easily. Well, 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:13.800 there's a certain kind of natural symmetry to it. Yeah, 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.320 it's a very symmetrical number. You can just picture it 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.080 there on a movie poster. And esthetically too, it's it's 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.960 better to have seven objects displayed than yeah, six. Yeah, 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:26.199 And and then the numeral is pretty, uh, pretty sexy too. 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:28.119 You know. It looks kind of like a like a weapon, 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.879 like we're like a hockey stick, you know. Yeah, I 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.600 don't know. I feel a little bit weird about saying yeah, 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:36.680 it's got a long neck. I mean, like, now I'm 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.199 getting into some weird territory here. Probably, So I like 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.919 it because I can seven is an odd number, but 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.520 eventually if I do another seven to it's even number. 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:47.280 I don't know if anybody has this sort of particular 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.119 numbers obsession. Wait wait, so break this down for us again, 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:53.280 your number of obsession. How it works? Well I did. 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.920 I like even numbers, and I like getting to even numbers. 0:19:57.440 --> 0:19:59.440 So you know, I could be sitting there in a 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:03.440 conversation counting letters, or in a sentence, or if there's 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.040 a sign nearby, and if it ends in an odd number, 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:10.720 it's uh disconcerting to me. Well, I'd say you have 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:12.320 to keep counting. I'm not a big fan of one 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:17.400 because one is the loneliest number to um, yeah, I'm 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:19.960 I'm okay. To two is a good number. I guess three, 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.040 three is three is nice because three is like a 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:24.480 three is that? You know, you're a nice odd number. 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:28.080 It's a trinity. Uh. Four, you got the four Horsemen 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.359 of the Apocalypse, So that's pretty good. I like that, yeah, 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:33.679 for in in Chinese death right, Yeah, so that's kind 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:35.600 of it's got, you know, some sort of death metal 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.399 vibe to it, which is nice. Uh. Five, you know 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:40.720 the five Wounds of Christ. So I kind of like that. 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.440 It's nice and grizzly, exactly what I thought of. Yeah. 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.639 Six unholy numbers, so you gotta love that. Um. Seven, 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:49.719 as we've been discussing here, lots of great things going 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:53.000 for that. Eight you turn it on its side, it's infinity, 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:56.919 so nice like that. Nine we have the nine Rings 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.959 of Power from Lord of the Rings, the Nine Ring Ray. 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.400 It's it's off the jokes store because it can flip 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:04.440