Thanks also for cryptozoology!! Do many poets suffer from Apophenia? All
that 'abnormal meaningfulness' especially in Haiku??:-)
-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Max Richards
Sent: 27 August 2012 03:13
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Subject: Apophenia - new word to me, if not to you all
Apophenia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apophenia is the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or connections in
random or meaningless data.
The term was coined in 1958 by Klaus Conrad,[1] who defined it as the
"unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a "specific experience of
an abnormal meaningfulness", but it has come to represent the human tendency
to seek patterns in random information in general (such as with gambling),
paranormal phenomena, and religion.[2] Meanings and forms
Conrad originally described this phenomenon in relation to the distortion of
reality present in psychosis, but it has become more widely used to describe
this tendency without necessarily implying the presence of neurological
differences or mental illness.
In 2008, Michael Shermer coined the word 'patternicity', defining it as "the
tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise."[3][4] In The
Believing Brain (2011), Shermer defines patternicity as "the tendency to
find meaningful patterns in both meaningful and meaningless noise." The
Believing Brain thesis also says that we have "the tendency to infuse
patterns with meaning, intention, and agency", which Shermer calls
'agenticity'.[5] [edit]Statistics In statistics, apophenia is known as a
Type I error - the identification of false patterns in data.[6] It may be
compared with a so called false positive in other test situations.
[edit]Paranormal phenomena
A common example of perceived, but non-existent pattern are paranormal
sightings, including sightings of ghosts, Unidentified Flying Objects,
cryptozoology, etc., which may be due to apophenia.[citation needed]
[edit]Conspiracy theories Main article: Conspiracy theory Likewise
conspiracy theorists are famously prone to identify a (perhaps coincidental)
pattern, and conclude that it must have great significance,[7] although
things that are important, life-changing, and even catastrophic, can occur
simply out of random chance.
[edit]Religion
The attempt to foretell the future, present, or past by finding patterns in
animal entrails, tossed sticks, or by picking random passages from a holy
text are often cited as examples of apophenia. A more extreme example is the
pareidolia associated with finding the faces of religious figures in pieces
of toast, the grain of cut wood, or other such patterns.[8] Recent
real-world examples include the finding of a cross inside a halved
potato;[9] the appearance of Jesus and Mary inside a halved orange;[10] and
the appearance of Jesus' face on a piece of toast,[11] in the frost on a car
window,[12] and inside the lid of a jar of Marmite.[13]=
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