Wonderous Wednesday #1: 12/13/2023 – Powerball Lottery Experiment

Score: 0 Points out of 100,000 possible. We’re revising total points to just 1, as we feel it would unjustly skew the results going forward.
Result: Not Positive

Welcome to our first edition of Wonderous Wednesdays! In line with our mission stated on the About DGE page, we’re embarking on a journey of self-discovery, aiming to provide tangible evidence of God through well-defined and publicly executed experiments. We invite you to join this exploration by participating in discussions and providing feedback on our findings.

As a reminder a link to all results can be found on the DGE Results page.

Experiment Introduction

For our inaugural experiment, we’re starting with a significant challenge: testing the influence of a divine presence in an extremely public and quantifiable way. Some may view this as an unrealistic challenge, but its success would offer compelling evidence of God’s ability to interact with and influence the world.

Experiment Procedure

• Date: Wednesday, 12/13/2023
• Task: We will purchase a Powerball lottery ticket for the draws on 12/13 and 12/16, 2023 (estimated top prize for 12/13: $477M).
• Method: The ticket will have 5 quick picks, allowing maximum flexibility for divine influence.
• Documentation: An image of the ticket, along with the number selection, will be posted on DGE before the Wednesday evening draw.
• Analysis: Post-draw, we’ll compare the ticket numbers against the winning numbers and score them according to the table below.

Results and Points

Condition	Description	Odds	Points
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once	Win both the 12/13 and 12/16 as the only winner, in addition ALL 4 remaining quick picks win the maximum value for each with no other winners.	1:Inftessimally small	100,000
Double Winning	Win both the 12/13 and 12/16.	1: 85×10^15	10,000
Multiple 5s	Win 5 numbers without Powerball on BOTH the 12/13 and 12/16 lotteries.	1:121×10^12	1,000
Single winning	Win either the 12/13 or 12/16 lotteries.	1:292M	100
Multiple 4s	Win AT LEAST 2 4 number streams on BOTH the 12/13 and 12/6 lotteries.	1:83M	10
Single 5	Win 5 numbers without Powerball on either the 12/13 or 12/16 lotteries.	1: 11M	1
Anything else	Any other winning or combination of winning including combinations of 4s and 5s, or winning the major prize, and then a 4 or 5.	Chance	0

We’ll continually update our DGE Results page with these findings. Although we have a backlog of results being processed, only those from these specific DGE experiments will be used for our conclusions.

Discussion

The proposed Powerball lottery experiment presents a thought-provoking approach to exploring divine intervention, yet it raises several philosophical and theological debates. One central argument relates to the nature of challenging a divine entity. Some may contend that actively testing God through a game of chance like the lottery could be seen as presumptuous or inappropriate, arguing that divine intervention should not be summoned for demonstrative purposes. This viewpoint often aligns with the belief that a deity’s actions and intentions are inherently inscrutable, encapsulated in the phrase “God works in mysterious ways.” This perspective suggests that divine will or influence cannot be predictably invoked or measured, especially in contexts governed by chance and human-designed systems.

Conversely, proponents of the experiment might argue that tangible, public events like a lottery win could serve as a powerful demonstration of divine capability and influence. This argument hinges on the idea that if a supreme being exists and chooses to interact with the world, such an entity could easily manipulate events, regardless of their scale or public nature. From this viewpoint, the experiment is a valid test of divine interaction with the physical world, offering a potentially quicker and more concrete way to assess the presence or absence of a higher power’s influence in our lives.

It’s an extreme starting point, but will enable the process to start moving forward. Continued experiments will uncover any underlying pattern, and therefore, navigates complex theological terrain. It touches on the limits of human understanding of the divine, the appropriateness of testing a deity’s will or power, and the potential implications of interpreting chance events as evidence of divine intervention. These arguments reflect broader philosophical and spiritual questions about the nature of faith, the role of empirical evidence in spiritual beliefs, and the boundaries between divine mystery and human inquiry.

What do you think?

Is it appropriate or respectful to ‘test’ a higher power through challenges like a lottery? Does this approach align with or contradict your understanding of faith and spirituality?

UPDATES: Results

Ticket Image

Quick Pick Numbers

#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	Powerball
02	07	09	16	23	20
03	13	38	57	67	10
16	21	29	38	47	11
06	19	22	30	34	14
10	11	35	63	66	10
07	26	34	42	65	20
10	35	45	48	54	05
02	15	53	57	66	10
02	17	27	49	64	05
17	20	27	35	52	19

Winning Numbers

Draw Date	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	Powerball
12/13/2023	03	08	41	56	64	18
12/16/2023	03	09	10	20	62	25

Results Updates

12/14/2023:

• Initial Outcome:
  • Only 2 numbers from all 10 sets matched the winning numbers after the first draw.
• Additional Miraculous Scenarios that would have been considered (Not Part of Experiment):
  • All 10 sets of quick pick numbers being identical.
  • Each ticket having correct numbers distributed across rows (e.g., row A with 03, row B with 08).
• Ticket Verification:
  • “Q6” indicates quick pick selection at the end of each line.
  • Ticket numbers can be verified using the Florida Lottery ticket validation system.
• Future Possibilities:
  • A chance for a “miraculous” win in the 12/16/2023 drawing, which would earn 100 points.
  • The possibility of finding a winning ticket, which must be a quick pick 5 selection from both draws (and is a winner or other miraculous criteria), by 12/20/2023.
• Additional Consideration:
  • No points awarded, but acknowledgment given if someone wins and credits this experiment as their motivation to play (would have to give credit for the win during their acceptance event and occur before Wednesday 12/20/2023).

12/19/2023:

• With the second draw completed, it appears that the selection of numbers matches standard chance.
• While there is a chance a ticket will appear by tomorrow 12/20 with one of the winning conditions described, at this juncture this experiment still has not produced any positive results.

Final update 12/20/2023:

• No tickets were received nor lottery winnings appearing before the cut off 11:59PM EST on 12/19.
• As a result, we have to conclude that this test did not produce any positive results for the existence of God.