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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