A science question for all of you...

[LightPhoenix]

I think there's two. Me, and everyone else.

 

[The Other Librarian]

Chassit.

 

[Zappo]

There are also four alignment types: good, evil, chaos, law.

So much for alignment detractors.

 

[Storyteller01]

There are no true personality "types". Personality is HIGHLY complicated, summing up every single non-physical aspect of a human being. Summing personality into 4 base types is being frighteningly simplistic at best. And yes, it is a coincidence. Pure and simple.

A point of mention: Most complex systems derive from simple laws, rules, or fundament principles, then branch out accordingly.

Read somewhere (Can someone back me up on this?) that a programmer named Stephen Wolfe created a computer program with 4 basic perameters, then let it do its own thing. It apparently grew in complexity, comparable to that of biological systems.

Anyone else know about this?

So... what is it with the number four?

 

[randomling]

Four base pairs, either four or sixteen (four times four) "basic" personality types, four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile), four elements (earth, fire, air, water). Any more fours that either are now or were at one point key to understanding the world as we know it?

I'm coming at this from a less scientific, more mystical point of view than some others, but four is a very powerful number. In numerology it's the number of foundation, and a very fertile number because it's the stable ground upon which everything that comes from it grows.

And that's the connection between these fours, as far as I see: each of these sets is "four basic elements from which a complex system is built". Those four base pairs build every living thing; the four personality types supposedly combine to create all the complex personalities we know of; the four humours were thought to combine to create the human body; the four elements were thought to combine to create the world.

Four: the number of building complex things from simple components.

 

[Staffan]

What are the four personality types in psychology?

Real men, real roleplayers, real loonies, and real munchkins.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I think it is even more amazing that we have 20 basic amino acids and the d20 system! That CAN'T just be coincidence.

 

[Storyteller01]

I think it is even more amazing that we have 20 basic amino acids and the d20 system! That CAN'T just be coincidence.

And, if another thread is correct, the universe is shaped like a dodecahedron (those crazy 12 siders!!!)

 

[Umbran]

It apparently grew in complexity, comparable to that of biological systems.

I wonder about that phrasing. While it may be similar to the complexity of biological systems, I am not sure about being comparable. I am not aware that humanity yet has computers with enough oomph to really model the complexity of biological systems. At the moment, we can't even model the full complexity of many proteins, much less the full biological systems in which they reside.

So... what is it with the number four?

I'm not in a position to dig up my old research in "origin of life" calculations, but I may be able to describe the answer (and the math was pretty hairy anyway).

The basic reason that four is important is that you need a minimum number of "letters" in an "alphabet" in order to describe a complex system. If you have too few letters, your "words" (for biology, they would be genes) become too repetetive, and fail to be robust to small changes. Similarly, you don't want too many "letters", because many of the "words" that may be formed have no meaning at all. Four is a kind of "sweet spot" - simple enough to be manageable, but complex enough to be useful.

 

[Storyteller01]

Been a while since I've read it, and it wasn't the most engaging work of literature...

I do like you answer on the 'four' question though...