6 or 9

About

6 or 9, also known as Six or Nine and Two People Arguing 6 vs. 9, is an exploitable used in a series of memes based on an image of two men pointing at a figure drawn on the ground which could be either a six or a nine, one man saying "6" and the other saying "9." The image is meant to represent the idea of relativism and perspective, suggesting that, without prior context from the person who drew the symbol, it could be either a six or a nine depending on the way you look at it, suggesting both men are correct in their claims. Some also claim the symbol could be neither a six nor a nine without prior knowledge that it's meant to represent a number at all. Variations of the image have been posted online since as early as 2007, becoming the subject of debates and memes throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s. Alternatively, a similar image using an optical illusion showing either three or four rods has also become the subject of memes.

Origin

On October 23rd, 2007, LiveJournal^[1] user Lopuchin posted a single-panel comic purportedly by Russian artist Igor Vorobyov in 1972 in which two men stand on either side of a symbol on the ground depicting either a six or a nine, depending on the way you view it, one man claiming it's a "6" and the other "9" (shown below). This is the earliest known user to post the image online.

Spread

The image and variants of it featuring slight alterations to the artwork gained viral spread over the following decade-plus.

In 2016, a version of the meme with an added caption about relativism, reading, "Just because you are right does not mean I am wrong," began to gain viral spread on social media (shown below, left).^[2]

On May 14th, 2017, WordPress^[3] user sjwiggett posted a version of the image to explain their growth that year, writing, "2016 was the year I realised that the world is not always an exact, black and white environment. I realised that two people can be equally right at the same time although they hold different views."

On October 6th, 2017, the Facebook^[4] page March for Science posted an image macro using the meme in which they crossed out the added caption "Just because you are right does not mean I am wrong" and added an additional caption rejecting the idea that the number is either a six or nine, garnering over 31,000 reactions and 32,000 shares in seven years (shown below, right).

On October 8th, WordPress^[5] user halconick posted an article titled "On: An Awful March for Science Meme," refuting the post by March for Science as representing a bad understanding of the scientific method, writing:

Sure, it could be a number corresponding to a building or a driveway, but how can we assume this from what we are presented in the meme? What if the number is part of an art installation and represents nothing other than the fact that a 6 is a 9 upside down and vice versa? Sure, that’s a hacky artist, but it doesn’t mean either ‘toon is wrong […] Why do we insist on calling either of these people wrong without knowing the full situation? Why create a false dilemma fallacy by only giving two options of what the number can be?"

On November 8th, 2017, PaulsPurpose^[6] published a further critique of March for Science's meme, adding another caption about how "almost nobody believes in unlimited relativism" (shown below).

On August 22nd, 2022, Redditor u/NotFamousCow posted a meme to /r/terriblefacebookmemes^[7] repurposing the image, garnering over 60,000 upvotes in two years (shown below, left). On December 22nd, another meme using the image was posted to /r/antimeme,^[8] garnering over 2,500 upvotes in two years (shown below, right).

On October 31st, 2023, Redditor u/imrubysummers posted a meme critiquing the idea behind the image to /r/PhilosophyMemes,^[9] garnering over 5,200 upvotes in five months (shown below, left). On November 1st, u/rdfporcazzo posted a critique of the meme to /r/PhilosophyMemes^[10] in which they posit that we don't even know if the figure is meant to be a six or nine without prior knowledge, meaning it could be neither, garnering over 1,300 upvotes in four months (shown below, right).

On March 21st, 2024, the prior meme was then shared by X^[11] user @shitpostgate, garnering over 150,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References