and I see there is also
pareidolia
and
molybdomancy
On 30/08/2012, at 9:35 PM, Lawrence Upton wrote:
> I was trying to tell someone about this word yesterday and I couldnt
> remember it
>
> seeing meaningful patterns in a fading memory
>
> L
>
> On Thu, August 30, 2012 12:24, Max Richards wrote:
>> Good for Danah Boyd, the versatile and eloquent…
>> Glad to be told of her.
>>
>>
>> the word is much used in the impressive Waking up in Toytown, a memoir
>> by John Burnside.
>>
>> p.139 my natural tendency to apophenia p.170 A lunatic night, sleepless and
>> full of wild imaginings,the complete apophenic kitbag: noises, visions,
>> and, as the dawn broke, those terrifying transformations in the body when
>> it seems everything is about to be ripped apart. p.215 Apophenia is usually
>> talked about in a context of excess sensitivity, which would make the
>> apophenic symptomatic of some wider malaise...
>>
>> On 27/08/2012, at 1:07 PM, Uche Ogbuji wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Apophenia is also the name of Dr. Danah Boyd's brilliant research
>>> Weblog,
>>> which I've frequently been tempted to cite on this list:
>>>
>>> http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/
>>>
>>>
>>> --Uche
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 8:13 PM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> 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]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Uche Ogbuji http://uche.ogbuji.net
>>> Founding Partner, Zepheira http://zepheira.com
>>> http://wearekin.org
>>> http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/author/uogbuji/
>>> http://copia.ogbuji.net
>>> http://www.linkedin.com/in/ucheogbuji
>>> http://twitter.com/uogbuji
>>>
>>
>
>
> -----
> Lawrence Upton
>
> http://sho-zyg.com/upton.html
>
> Visiting Fellow, Music Dept,
> Goldsmiths, University of London
> New Cross, London SE14 6NW
> ----
|