> pareidolia
oh yes
that was underlying my snap this week
> molybdomancy
ah! I looked that up
common in the Nordic countries, they said
Not among the Nords I know and knew; or maybe they shut the door first
thanks
L
>
>
> 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
>> ----
>>
>
-----
Lawrence Upton
http://sho-zyg.com/upton.html
Visiting Fellow, Music Dept,
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross, London SE14 6NW
----
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