Simpson Synchros

We’ve previously mentioned the uncanny 911 synchroncity that appeared in a 2001 episode of  The Simpson when an image of a poster appeared that offered a tour of New York CIty for a mere $9. In the background just to the right of the 9 is the Twin Towers. So we see NEW YORK 9-11, the eleven created by the Twin Towers. 9-11 of course is the day the towers went down, and it’s also the emergency number.

In early February, the New York Times took a look at the amazing coincidences that have appeared on the Simpsons over the years. The Times article was  quick to let us know that it’s all—or  at least mostly—understandable by normal means. You don’t even have to read the article to get the NYT perspective on synchronicities and precognition. Here’s the headline:  The ‘Simpson’s’ Have Predicted a Lot. Most of It Can Be Explained.

Besides the 9-11 synchronicity, the article notes there has been more than 20 accurate predictions coming out of the long-running show. Among them are: the Trump presidency, the discovery of the Higgs boson particle, and most recently, Disney’s takeover of Fox.

How does The NY Times explain these synchronicities or precognitive comments on the show? They say the writers are really smart and some have gone to Harvard. In other words, the emphasis is on intellect, not intuition.

The article also suggested the predictions might just be random luck, quoting a mathematician who explained it all as the Rule of Large Numbers. There have been a lot of shows so it’s not surprising the startling predictions have resulted. Really?

To balance the brilliant minds and large numbers explainations the article quoted our friend and author Bernard Beitman, who said: “Under the right conditions, we can know things that we don’t know we know, and we can sometimes predict events or attract what we are thinking,”  Beitman is the author of Connecting With Coincidence.

Long-time Simpsons writer Al Jean notes that “The future can be forecast better than one might think.” Episodes air a year after they’re produced, so “it’s just a sort of frame of mind that we’ve got that we think one year ahead.”

Apparently that’s the success formula for the show: brilliant minds, intuitive minds at work.