On how randomness generates patterns

Ancient fresco of dice players in Pompei

A science experiment that has baffled  physicists  can be done at home. Fill a jar with an equal number of tiny beads in two contrasting colors. It might be thought that enough shaking of the jar will cause an even distribution throughout, so that if the beads are black and white the jar will come to look uniformly grey. This does not happen: instead the beads stubbornly continue to appear in streaks of the same color. When first introduced to this phenomena, some scientists were so suspicious that they expected to find some electromagnetic effect. In the end everybody agreed it must be a demonstration of how randomness tends to generate patterns. [1]

In ancient history, the concepts of chance and randomness were intertwined with that of fate. Many ancient peoples threw dice to determine fate, and this later evolved into games of chance. At the same time, most ancient cultures used various methods of divination to attempt to circumvent randomness and fate. Over 3,000 years ago, the problems concerned with the tossing of several coins were considered in the I Ching, one of the oldest Chinese mathematical texts, that probably dates to 1150 BC.

[1] Cosmic Loom; Dennis Elwell