Constantly bewailing on Nostr: “In his old age, de Moivre noticed that he was sleeping about fifteen minutes ...

“In his old age, de Moivre noticed that he was sleeping about fifteen minutes longer each night. Being a mathematician, he calculated that he would die on the day when his sleep reached twenty-four hours, on November 27, 1754. And on that very day he died, as predicted. Unfortunately, this story is likely apocryphal. It's worth noting it, however, because it shows how gullible we are to those who seem to know more than we do. Magical thinking sprouts in the face of impressive mathematical discoveries and proofs.”