A labyrinth from which it is impossible to escape – an issue raised last week in reference to the famous labyrinth of Crete – is a contradiction in terms: by definition, a labyrinth must have at least one practicable entrance and exit (which can be the same); otherwise it is not a labyrinth, but a prison.
As for the supposed labyrinths from which one exits by always turning to the left, mentioned by Borges, it is assumed that the Argentine writer, fascinated by mathematics, but not very knowledgeable in the subject, is confused with the simplest one – although not always the fastest—method of exiting a related maze, which consists of touching a wall with the left hand and moving forward, in one direction or another, without ever stopping touching the wall. Obviously, it doesn’t matter whether you use one hand or the other, unless you are right-handed and in your right hand you hold the sword with which to face the Minotaur. For this method to work, the maze must be connected, that is, with all its parts joined together forming a single block. If there are separate blocks, one inside another, things get complicated; but there are always relatively simple ways out of a maze, no matter how large and intricate it may be.
Something unlikely is very likely to happen
And no matter how great the improbability of an event, it can happen (otherwise it would not be improbable, but impossible). And since many things happen all the time, it is very likely that very improbable things will happen, as Aristotle already pointed out in his Poetics.
Last week we asked ourselves what the probability was that on the same day two articles with titles as similar as Borges deconstructed and Borges dismantledand although no one has calculated it (using a “Fermian” approximation, I mean, since the precise calculation is unfeasible, given the innumerable number of factors at play), it is a good pretext to talk about some amazing coincidences that cease to be so after a brief analysis.
Of course, there are also truly extraordinary coincidences, and one of the most striking is the fact that the Sun and the Moon, seen from Earth, have the same apparent size, which makes possible the wonderful spectacle of solar eclipses. totals; But in many other astonishing coincidences, the astonishment has to do with subtle psychological biases in our appreciation of reality.
One of the most frequent reasons why something that is not so unlikely may seem very unlikely is that individual and group considerations tend to overlap in our minds. The probability that, in a group of people, one of them in particular will have a birthday on the same day as you is very low: 1/365 (in fact, a little less, since leap years must be taken into account: can you become a purist and calculate the exact probability?); but the probability that in a not very large group there will be two people who celebrate their birthday on the same day is quite high: from 23 people it exceeds 50% (can you calculate the exact probability for 23 people?).
Also in a small group, greater coincidences than those anticipated by intuition can be observed. In a group of 7 people, what would you say is the probability that two of them will celebrate their birthdays in the same week? And the fact that two are of the same zodiac sign? By the way, it would be necessary to clarify what is meant by “the same week” (I leave it to your discretion).
Without having to meet with anyone, you can test how probable some seemingly improbable events are with a simple deck of cards. If you put the cards on the table while naming them in order (“Ace of pentacles, two of pentacles, three of pentacles… ace of cups, two of cups, three of cups…”), the probability that one specific card, for example the page of clubs, appears at the time of naming it is 1/40; but the probability of any card “magically” matching its summon is quite high (can you calculate it?). So high that you can bet double against single that it will happen.
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