Probability and statistics of coincidences
Subject in Mathematics
Probability and statistics of coincidences has come up in 1 episode across 1 podcast in TMT, including This American Life. 2 people have made recorded remarks about it.
What people said
Sarah KoenigAmerican journalist, former This American Life producer and creator of Serial, guest-hosting this rerun
Koenig said statisticians would argue coincidences occur far more often than people assume.
“any statistician will probably rain on your parade. We'll tell you these things happen a lot more often than you think”
This American Life: 489: No Coincidence, No Story! (Oct 19, 2026) · Listen from 50:43
Koenig said she began the project as a skeptic who believed coincidences carry no deeper meaning.
“I came into this topic a coincidence skeptic, believing that a coincidence is just a coincidence. Nothing more”
This American Life: 489: No Coincidence, No Story! (Oct 19, 2026) · Listen from 10:15
Kerry WeeksFilm prop man and storyteller who told a pocketknife story at a Moth StorySLAM
Kerry Weeks attributed his willingness to accept unlikely explanations to growing up as a physicist's son aware of the universe's vastness.
“I, better than most other children, had an idea of just how vast the universe is. And therefore, how infinite the possibilities are”
This American Life: 489: No Coincidence, No Story! (Oct 19, 2026) · Listen from 53:18
Podcasts
- This American Life · 1 episode
Episodes
489: No Coincidence, No Story!This American Life · Oct 19, 2026 · 1 h 1 min
Guest host Sarah Koenig presents listener coincidence stories—grandmothers, love, coins in the shower, lost fathers, and a pocketknife—while weighing skepticism against meaning.