And Romania of course
an obsession with kangaroos
L
On Thu, August 30, 2012 14:46, Lawrence Upton wrote:
>> 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
> ----
>
>
-----
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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