There’s something mystical to me about the “unsolved” math problems of the world.  Occasionally I find myself obsessing over things like the Busy Beaver function and the concept of π.  The thought of all those numbers just sends me into a ponderous daze.  The idea that any number could be too big or too complex for humanity to master is just amazing.

I’ve also spent many hours staring at lists of prime numbers, placing them in tables, trying to discover some discernable pattern.  I like the idea that solving such a problem would somehow lead humanity into a new renaissance (or perhaps into an era of our destruction, reminiscent of the opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey).  I always envisioned that by simply placing that one final digit on a chalkboard somewhere, the universe would somehow instantly change.

Or imagine, if you will, taking an incredibly long piece of white yarn, where each centimeter of the yarn equals one number.  Now, take each prime numbered length of yarn and paint it black.  I like to think that were you to take that string and coil it outwards on the ground in a spiral, it would somehow end up drawing the answers to the mysteries of the universe.  Some concrete proof of purpose in all things…a pixelated version of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam or something.

Even if I had the time to attempt such an experiment, though, I don’t think I would.  I’d be too afraid that I would end up staring at a random collection of dots.  Frozen static on the floor.

Edit:  Nevermind.  I just Googled “Prime Number Spiral” to make sure I had never mentioned this before and discovered that my idea is, in fact, not a new one.  The people at numberspiral.com have actually done this already.  The result is not very miraculous, looking more like a basketball than anything else.  Still pretty neat, but not quite the epiphany I had hoped for.  I knew I should have left this idea in my head where the possibilities remained endless…