Post by David Ibarra on Sept 6, 2015 20:35:37 GMT
David Ibarra
Professor Lane
Philosophy 8
3 September 2015
Apophenia/Patternicity
As humans, we are pattern seekers. That is part of what makes us human; our ability to make connections between seemingly random or nonconcurring events in an effort to make sense of, or bring meaning to situations in our lives. We do this in efforts to find purpose in our lives or to bring comfort or assurance when it comes to decisions we choose to make. Say I am deciding on what are of study to major in and on my way to class I see a psychology book on the floor. If I used that random event as a deciding factor in my decision of what to major in, I would be allowing chance to dictate a major life decision of mine(According to David Lane). Sometimes these random events seem as if they were meant to be or too coincidental for them to be due to some series of random events. We want to believe that these events were due to some form of divine intervention. The principles of Apophenia and Patternicity seek to disprove this. In the book Surfing the Matrix, David Lane states that these seemingly meaningful occurrence of events is nothing more than the product of simple probability.
Apopheina is our tendency to perceive a meaningful pattern between unrelated things like objects and ideas. David Lane states that these occurrences are nothing more than the product of probability. In the book Voodoo Voodoo , it briefly discuss' an idea known as a miracle a month. This idea has to do with the way that probability can assess the seemingly miraculous events that we experience on occasion. It states, " We can expect 250 occurrences a day and close to 1000000 such occurrences a year,". We experience so many events in a year alone so for something seemingly miraculous to occur, statistically speaking is not uncommon. This theory has to do with explaining the miracles in an earthly matter rather than it being of some sort of divine intervention.
Along with trying to find meaning in day to day occurrences we will also try and find signs in imagery. For example: When somebody claims to see an image of the Virgin Mary in a piece of toast. This is what's known as patternicity. We do this as a way to our brains are beleif engines; we want to prove the basis of our improvable beliefs so we begin to connect the dots in an effort to create meaning or a sense of reassurance. We see the image of the Virgin Mary or Jesus on the side of a building or a billboard on our way home from work and we believe that it is a sign from God or a message from a dead relative. Although as patternicity seeks to prove, it is nothing more than us seeking to find patterns in nature that are just mere coincidence.
We seek to find meaning in the world around us. Sometimes A indeed is connected to B but usually it is just mere coincidence. Patternicity and Apophenia are ways to explain these beliefs in a critical manner that allows to know and not just believe.
Professor Lane
Philosophy 8
3 September 2015
Apophenia/Patternicity
As humans, we are pattern seekers. That is part of what makes us human; our ability to make connections between seemingly random or nonconcurring events in an effort to make sense of, or bring meaning to situations in our lives. We do this in efforts to find purpose in our lives or to bring comfort or assurance when it comes to decisions we choose to make. Say I am deciding on what are of study to major in and on my way to class I see a psychology book on the floor. If I used that random event as a deciding factor in my decision of what to major in, I would be allowing chance to dictate a major life decision of mine(According to David Lane). Sometimes these random events seem as if they were meant to be or too coincidental for them to be due to some series of random events. We want to believe that these events were due to some form of divine intervention. The principles of Apophenia and Patternicity seek to disprove this. In the book Surfing the Matrix, David Lane states that these seemingly meaningful occurrence of events is nothing more than the product of simple probability.
Apopheina is our tendency to perceive a meaningful pattern between unrelated things like objects and ideas. David Lane states that these occurrences are nothing more than the product of probability. In the book Voodoo Voodoo , it briefly discuss' an idea known as a miracle a month. This idea has to do with the way that probability can assess the seemingly miraculous events that we experience on occasion. It states, " We can expect 250 occurrences a day and close to 1000000 such occurrences a year,". We experience so many events in a year alone so for something seemingly miraculous to occur, statistically speaking is not uncommon. This theory has to do with explaining the miracles in an earthly matter rather than it being of some sort of divine intervention.
Along with trying to find meaning in day to day occurrences we will also try and find signs in imagery. For example: When somebody claims to see an image of the Virgin Mary in a piece of toast. This is what's known as patternicity. We do this as a way to our brains are beleif engines; we want to prove the basis of our improvable beliefs so we begin to connect the dots in an effort to create meaning or a sense of reassurance. We see the image of the Virgin Mary or Jesus on the side of a building or a billboard on our way home from work and we believe that it is a sign from God or a message from a dead relative. Although as patternicity seeks to prove, it is nothing more than us seeking to find patterns in nature that are just mere coincidence.
We seek to find meaning in the world around us. Sometimes A indeed is connected to B but usually it is just mere coincidence. Patternicity and Apophenia are ways to explain these beliefs in a critical manner that allows to know and not just believe.