23 (numerology)

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The number 23 appears in many mysterious coincidences - but only to those who notice them.
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The number 23 appears in many mysterious coincidences - but only to those who notice them.

The "23 Enigma" refers to the belief that all incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23, some permutation of the number 23, or a number related to the number 23, given enough ingenuity on the part of the interpreter.

Unusual circumstances being linked to 23 are mentioned by William S. Burroughs. He tells the story of meeting a ferry captain named Clark who claimed to have sailed the same route without an accident for 23 years. That very day, however, the ferry sank, killing all aboard. Later that day, Burroughs writes, he was thinking about Clark's ferry accident when he heard that a Flight 23 on a New York-Miami route had crashed. According to Burroughs, the pilot's name for the flight had also been Clark. Burroughs began collecting incidences of the number 23 in a scrapbook and referred to them in his writings.

The 23 Enigma can also be seen in Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's Illuminatus! trilogy (there called the "23/17 phenomenon"), Wilson's Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati (there called "The Law of 23s" and "The 23 Enigma"), Arthur Koestler's Challenge of Chance, as well as the notorious Principia Discordia. In these works, 23 is considered to be alternately lucky, unlucky, sacred to the goddess Eris, sinister, sacred to the unholy gods of the Cthulhu Mythos, or just plain weird. Discordians regard this as a corollary of the Law of Fives.

In connection to the Discordian view, 23 may also be interpreted as 2:3 or 40/60 as opposed to the Pareto principle 1:4 (or 20/80). 23 does therefore symbolize a more balanced distribution of wealth. Both distributions, 2:3 and 1:4, add up to the sacred Discordian number 5 (note that a 50/50 distribution cannot be constructed by the same method, which underlines the Discordian esteem for chaos). The pyramid of the Great Seal of the United States with one base and four faces may symbolize the 1:4 distribution. The Pentagon, while also clearly representing the 5, does not show any bias toward a 2:3 or 1:4 quota.

Like other numbers that have long been linked to unusual coincidences, 13 and 17 also being favorites, the 23 Enigma can be seen as no more than an example of apophenia. Skeptics point out the fact that 23, being a fairly low number, occurs often in the media, current events, and daily life, concluding that it appears probably no more often in conjunction with catastrophe or coincidence than 22 or 24. In interviews, Wilson has acknowledged the possibly self-fulfilling nature of the 23 enigma, implying that the real value of the Laws of Fives and Twenty-threes lies in their demonstration of the mind's power to perceive "truth" in nearly anything.

As a number with which to associate things, 23 has several helpful properties. It is a prime number, and therefore more likely to be associated with coincidences because events associated with composite numbers would be divided by a factor to arrive at it or some other prime. In addition, it enjoys the boon of having the two lowest primes as digits; 2 and 3 are small and therefore can be included in complex calculations that arrive at numbers only remotely related, which can then become coincidental with significant events. Two and three are also the most frequent factors (excluding 1) of a given range of whole numbers. 23 less the numeric base is 13, which has many phobias attached to it. Finally, it is the largest integer that is a valid day and a valid 24 hour clock hour.(dubious; discuss)

More unusual interpretations of 23's prevalence involve solipsism and some of the stranger sub-theories of quantum mechanics.

Contents

[edit] A 23 enigma list

This is a list of unusual happenings or circumstances commonly brought up as instances of the 23 Enigma. It should be pointed out that many entries on this list are of dubious accuracy or verification status, while others are the result of stretched applicability, such as a disregard of decimals or remainders, or the confusion of modern calendars with ancient ones. Links between the following phenomena and the number 23 often rely on adding digits of dates etc. together, or performing other manipulations on them, in this case it would seem that these are arbitrary, and that similar transformations could construct many other numbers from the same starting point. There are in fact no fewer than 4132920 integers without the digit 0 in their decimal representation whose digits sum to 23. Another objection to many of these is that they rely on using specific calendars or conventions of measurement, such as the division of the circle into 360 degrees, or the day into 24 hours, or the fact of using 10 as the basis of our system of representing numbers. However, these are often not valid objections to a conspiracy theorist since they could be seen as evidence of the presence of the influence of the number 23 in the establishing of the these conventions and calendars. The actual significance of every single occurrence is questionable. It is completely unclear, and seemingly impossible to determine, if the number 23 actually appears any more frequently in connection to events of historical importance etc. than say 22 or 24. (See also Law of Fives)

[edit] Mathematical

  • In Roman Numerals 23 is written as XXIII: 2 "X"s and 3 "I"s
  • 2 + 3 = 5, which is (3 x 2) - (3 - 2), and is also (2 x 3) + (2 - 3)
    • 33 - 22 = 23
    • 23 + 32 = 17
    • 1 + 7 = 8 = 23
  • Integers 2 and 3 are the two smallest (positive) numbers sufficient to form any other (positive) integer by summation (e.g. 13 = 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3), if number 1 (as being the identity) is not considered.
  • There is also a numerical pattern discovered by Anon Castillo using 2, 3, 5, and 23 and including 17, where you add one and two, then add an increasing number to each sum:
    • 1 + 2 = 3
    • 2 + 3 = 5
    • 3 + 5 = 8 (or 23)
    • 4 + 8 = 12 (or 3 × 22)
    • 5 + 12 = 17 (or 23 + 32)
    • 6 + 17 = 23
    • 7 + 23 = 30 (or 2 × 3 × 5)
  • This pattern (sequence A089071 in OEIS) consists of the Triangular numbers plus 2.
  • Pi's first six digits (3.14159) added together equal 23.
  • In probability theory, the birthday paradox states that given a group of 23 (or more) randomly chosen people, the probability is more than 50% that at least two of them will have the same birthday. See Birthday paradox.


[edit] Historical

[edit] Births and deaths

[edit] Scientific

  • The human genome contains 23 pairs of chromosomes.
  • Earth's axis is off by 23.5 degrees.
  • The human biorhythm is 23 days long. Though Hermann Swoboda and Wilhelm Fliess, the two doctors who first posited biorhythm, did determine that a human's 'physical cycle' was 23 days long, biorhythmics is at best a highly speculative and subjective area of study.

[edit] Sports uniform numbers

[edit] Mythic/Legendary

  • It is believed that Adam and Eve had 23 daughters. [citation needed]
  • It is believed that the verses of the Qur'an were revealed over a period of 23 years. There exist hadith that support this figure, but many more that give other lengths of time.
  • Psalms, the longest book of the Bible, is the 23rd book of the Old Testament, and the famous "Divine Shepherd" psalm is Psalm 23. Those repeating this popular claim overlook that it is only true in a handful of very specific modern Catholic translations. The famous psalm is actually number 22 in the Septuagint and traditional Catholic Bibles, while the books of the Old Testament appear in several different orders; Psalms is number 23 only in modern Catholic Bibles, being book 21 in the traditional Vulgate, book 26 in the Greek Orthodox Bible, book 19 in most Protestant Bibles, and book 14 in the Jewish Tanakh. It is therefore completely false for the Vulgate (chapter 22 of book 21), and only partly true for the King James Version (chapter 23 of book 19).
  • December 23, 2012 is the date on which the Mayan calendar ends, predicting an apocalyptic event.
  • Both the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian calendars begin on 23 July. Both calendars were apparently calculated from the date of the heliacal rising of Sirius, which occurs at that latitude around that time of year.

[edit] Political

[edit] Cultural

  • In "I'm my Own Grandpa," the protagonist married his wife at the age of 23.
  • W, the 23rd letter of the Latin alphabet has 2 points down, 3 points up.
  • The last song (and their shortest "Her Majesty") on technically the last (last recorded) Beatles album is 23 seconds long.
  • On Microsoft Windows computers, a line break is stored as ASCII code 13, then ASCII code 10. On Apple Macintosh computers running Mac OS 9 or earlier, a line break is stored as ASCII code 13. On Linux and Unix systems, a line break is stored as ASCII code 10. Supposedly, in telegraphy a line break is or was transmitted as a 23, as referred to in the article 23.
  • William Shakespeare's date of birth is unknown, but he was believed to be born on 23 April, died on 23 April and had his first portfolio published in 1623. His first play Titus Andronicus was performed January 23, 1594. Shakespeare's date of birth remains unconfirmed, and the chronology of his plays is uncertain (see his article for more information). The Comedy of Errors may have been performed before Titus, for example.
  • On a normal modern Latin alphabet "QWERTY" keyboard, the 23rd letter W is right below and between 2 and 3.
  • According to the company website, the soft drink Dr Pepper "is a unique blend of 23 flavors". [1]

[edit] Occurrences in popular culture

It should be observed that many of these cultural references are deliberate, by artists who were fully aware of the mythical status of the number 23.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Film references

In addition to the films 23 and The Number 23, references or usage of the number in movies include:

  • In Serendipity, Sarah & Jonathan 'randomly' select floor 23 in the Waldorf Astoria elevators.
  • In Kate & Leopold, Kate has 23 minutes to jump into a time vortex before it closes.
  • In The Matrix Reloaded, in the opening code sequence, the final, most prominent number is 23, reversed as if looking from inside a mirror. The film was also released 5/2003. Also, the Architect tells Neo that his final task will be to "select from the Matrix 23 individuals - 16 females, 7 males - to rebuild Zion."
  • In The Fifth Element, there is a reference to five in the title (5 = 2 + 3), and the story is set in the year 2263, the 23rd century.
  • In The Bourne Supremacy, Pamela Landy's hotel room phone number (the hotel in Berlin, Germany) is "235"; 5 = 2 + 3.
  • In Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, when the raccoon attacks Harold and they almost crash into some other car and then find out it's Goldstein and his friend, Goldstein has a shirt with a 23 on it.
  • In Antwone Fisher, Antwone finds his mother at apartment number 23.
  • In Talk to Her by Pedro Almodovar, one of the women in a coma, Alicia, is shown in flashbacks to live in a building with street number 23.
  • In One Hour Photo, the number 23 can be seen prominently on a digital counter at a supermarket, and on a character's sports shirt.
  • The Number 23, a movie starring Jim Carrey and set to be released in 2007, is about a strange occurrence of the number 23. The movie is set to start filming in November of 2006.
  • In The Big Lebowski, The Dude and his friends always play at Lane 23.
  • In Blade Runner, it is mentioned that the replicants killed 23 people in their escape back to Earth. In the end credits William S. Burroughs is thanked for his permission to use the term "blade runner" from his screenplay Blade Runner: A Movie, adapted from a novel, The Bladerunner, by Alan E. Nourse, who is also thanked. Neither book contributed any plot elements.
  • In the Jeepers Creepers films, the demon character returns to feed upon humans every 23 years for 23 days.
  • In the movie The Shining, Stanley Kubrick was asked by The Timberland Lodge (used for exterior shots of the Overlook) to use the room number 237 instead of the 217 from the original book so that guests would stay in 217 without fear
  • In the movie The Prestige, Christian Bale's character Alfred Borden is in cell block 23D while in jail.

[edit] Television references

  • 23 is one of "the numbers" on ABC's television show Lost. The series is 4 8 15 16 23 42. The number 23 specifically is referenced in various intentional "coincidences" throughout the series, such as the number of the terminal Flight 815 leaves from. In perhaps the most obviously referential scene, Hurley is repeating the entire sequence aloud, and Kate picks out the number 23, asking what it means to him. When Hurley hesitates to tell her about the synchronicities he has experienced in connection with the numbers, Kate tells him that coincidentally the number 23,000 relates to a significant event in her backstory.
  • In episode 4 of Life On Mars (BBC, 2006), Detective Sam Tyler (who finds himself transported back in time to 1973), goes to the house where he lived as a child, which is number 23.
  • Purple 23 is the location where Kramer sets the air conditioner in the parking garage episode of Seinfeld.
  • The numbers 23, 6 and 801 recur throughout the recent series Doctor Who.
  • Network 23 is the name of the television network in the science fiction television series Max Headroom.
  • In the episode of the TV show Family Guy "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater" Peter has the number 23 on a bidding paddle.
  • In the 17th episode of the first season of Veronica Mars "Kanes and Abel's", Veronica is trying to find out who is harassing a girl named Sabrina. Sabrina lives on 23 Emperor Court. In the next scene Veronica knocks on a motel room door where Amelia, daughter of innocently convicted murderer Abel Koontz, is hiding. The room number is 23. The previous episode (Betty And Veronica) ended with Veronica finding an obituary dated May 23, 2001.
  • On the show My Name Is Earl, in the episode "Didn't Pay Taxes" Randy buys an electric scooter; while using the scooter he reaches a speed of 23 miles before swallowing a fly.
  • In the Futurama episode "The Farnsworth Parabox", Professor Farnsworth creates several boxes each containing a different universe. When at one point they fall from their shelves and onto the floor, the only box number visible is 23.
  • In the September 18, 2006 episode of the US version of Deal or No Deal, Matty Solina picked case 23 because he had gotten married at 23, been married for 23 years, was born on the 23rd and been a Teamster for 23 years. It contained the top prize of $3 million.
  • Batman, starring Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton was released June 23,1989.

[edit] Literary references

  • The biography 'I Have America Surrounded - The Life of Timothy Leary' by John Higgs has 23 chapters. The book also includes several mentions of Robert Anton Wilson.
  • The first issue of the comic book The Filth by Grant Morrison has 23 pages; the date on the security camera filming Greg Feely at the start of the first issue is 23:11:01; the time as Greg falls asleep on page eight is 02:30.
  • Hellboy, popular comic book hero, was summoned to Earth on December 23, 1944.
  • X-23 (Laura Kinney aka Laura X) is a fictional character from the X-Men: Evolution animated series. X-23 (stands for Experiment #23) is a clone of Wolverine. X-23 debuted in the Marvel Comics Series NYX in 2004. The character, much like the character Harley Quinn of DC Comics or Marvel's own Firestar, is one of a select few characters that originally was created for an animated series, then brought into the comics.
  • In the comic book series The Invisibles by Grant Morrison, Cell 23 is a subdivision of The Invisibles group, and Key 23 is a word drug that forces those dosed to manifest printed words as physically and psychologically real.
  • In chapter 2 of William Gibson's Idoru, one of the lead characters, Chia Pet Mackenzie, sits in seat 23D while travelling from Seatle to Narita, Japan.
  • In chapter 7 of William Gibson's Idoru, Alison Shire, one of the characters murdered in the story uses the number 23 as the secret two numbers at the end of her home security system passcode. Without entering the secret numbers, the security system would automatically place a silent call to armed response, yet disable the alarm in her residence to trick thieves into thinking they had successfully entered.
  • In chapter 10 of William Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties, Rydel, a returning character from the first book of the Bridge Trilogy, parks a car he is transporting to NoCal (sic) in slot 23, level 6.
    Spoilers end here.

[edit] Musical references

  • The electronica group The KLF, who have referenced The Illuminatus! Trilogy extensively, also contrived the appearance of the number 23 throughout their work, in promotional material, and in the cataloguing of their releases.
  • The sound system Spiral Tribe referred to the number 23 extensively. They held parties on the twenty third day of the month; their flyers, posters and artwork featured 23 imagery; their record label was called Network 23; and some music was released under the moniker SP23. Oddly enough, twenty-three members of the group were also arrested immediately after their Castlemorton party event.
  • The progressive rock band, Tool, named the last track on their latest album, 10,000 Days, "Viginti Tres" - latin for twenty-three.
  • The power-pop band The Posies named their second album Dear 23, because they were fans of The Illuminatus! Trilogy.
  • Progressive metal band Coheed and Cambria have 11 tracks filled with nothing (aptly titled by some as "A Lot of Nothing"), which leads up to the 23rd track, "21:13" on their album In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3.
  • Musician John Frusciante recorded a track named "23 Go In To End", made using an electronic synthesizer, for his 2004 album, Shadows Collide With People.
  • The song "New Millennium Cyanide Christ" by progressive metal band Meshuggah with a passage in the time signature 23/16 (twenty-three 16th notes per measure).
  • The final song on Alternative Rock/Emo Band Jimmy Eat World's 2004 album Futures is titled "23"; the track is 7 minutes and 23 seconds long.
  • Former Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain was born 1967 1 9 6 7=23. He died in 1994 1 9 9 4= 23.
  • In the song "Gett Off", by the artist Prince, the lyrics read: "Gett Off! Twenty-three positions in a one-night stand".
  • Jamie Hewlett Uses the number 23 a great deal and also references the Church of the subgenius and The Illuminatus! Trilogy in his illustrations and writing for Tank Girl and Gorillaz - Also the number 5 occurs a great deal in his work.
  • The German gothic band Welle:Erdball has an song called "23", referring to "The Illuminatus"
  • Industrial group Psychic TV references 23 extensively. They even tried to release 23 albums in 23 months, but stopped at number 17.
  • The progressive metal band Dream Theater's symbol, has two X's and three I's which intertwine with each other, XXIII, which is the Roman Numeral for 23.
  • Inkwell has a song that features the lyrics "I can count to twenty three"

[edit] Other media

  • In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, The Truth tells Carl, "Do you know how many satellites are watching us right now? 23. Do you know how many religious relics are kept at The Pentagon? 23. Seeing a pattern here?"
  • The videogame company Beep Industries was originally incorporated under the name "Beep23, LLC"

[edit] See also

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