Post by markusbrewster on Sept 10, 2015 21:21:50 GMT
The definition of patternicity is the tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise. I believe that we as humans cannot help but to do this act, in some ways it can even be considered coping with reality. There are many different forms of paternity or apophenia and in my preference I don’t believe all forms should be considered in a negative way, some minor examples could be considered a form of amusement when it is not harming anyone or anything. Other examples could be taken a little overboard and even potentially harmful, I believe this is where Type I and Type II come into place.
Seeing a shape of an object in a cloud is extremely harmless and should not be taken that seriously, seeing a shape of a “higher being” in a piece of toast can also just be considered as amusement. When we start worshiping the piece of toast is where the real problem lies. I believe the significant idea of patternicity/apophenia is all a case by case matter. A story in phycology today states “What if you experience the following upon entering your house alone at night: The front door is left open. Household objects are strewn everywhere (you left the house neat and clean just a few hours ago). Your computer is missing. There are faint but unrecognizable smells. You can hear someone talking.” This could be an extreme case of a Type II error, if we did not recognize all these patterns the person going into their home could reach potential danger. From my readings it is almost implied that this apophenia is a negative feature humans and even animals have, and this example is one of the reasons I do not believe this trait we have is a negative one. Although some cases it is definitely possible to have a negative affect. There is another form called the “gamblers fallacy” which is the believe that if something happens more frequently than normal during some period, it will happen less frequently in the future, or that, if something happens less frequently than normal during some period, it will happen more frequently in the future (presumably as a means of balancing nature). Which I believe to be absurd, but I would assume we all have done it more than once before, defy statistics and go with what we hope for. This form is one of the more interesting aspects of apohpenia and could also land someone in a lot of trouble.
There of course is the conspiracy theory branch of patternicity/apophenia which is in the realm of believing the twin towers were destroyed by the government and that JFK was also killed by some government involvement which I do not personally have a major interest in, because of how great the accusations are compared to the actual facts. Those type of apophenia’s to me are done by people who cannot accept some harsh parts of reality. In general I believe that the whole idea of apophenia/patternicity is all bias, some theories of certain events can be true but others can be outrageously. Certain patterns should be acknowledged others should be people’s personal entertainment.
Seeing a shape of an object in a cloud is extremely harmless and should not be taken that seriously, seeing a shape of a “higher being” in a piece of toast can also just be considered as amusement. When we start worshiping the piece of toast is where the real problem lies. I believe the significant idea of patternicity/apophenia is all a case by case matter. A story in phycology today states “What if you experience the following upon entering your house alone at night: The front door is left open. Household objects are strewn everywhere (you left the house neat and clean just a few hours ago). Your computer is missing. There are faint but unrecognizable smells. You can hear someone talking.” This could be an extreme case of a Type II error, if we did not recognize all these patterns the person going into their home could reach potential danger. From my readings it is almost implied that this apophenia is a negative feature humans and even animals have, and this example is one of the reasons I do not believe this trait we have is a negative one. Although some cases it is definitely possible to have a negative affect. There is another form called the “gamblers fallacy” which is the believe that if something happens more frequently than normal during some period, it will happen less frequently in the future, or that, if something happens less frequently than normal during some period, it will happen more frequently in the future (presumably as a means of balancing nature). Which I believe to be absurd, but I would assume we all have done it more than once before, defy statistics and go with what we hope for. This form is one of the more interesting aspects of apohpenia and could also land someone in a lot of trouble.
There of course is the conspiracy theory branch of patternicity/apophenia which is in the realm of believing the twin towers were destroyed by the government and that JFK was also killed by some government involvement which I do not personally have a major interest in, because of how great the accusations are compared to the actual facts. Those type of apophenia’s to me are done by people who cannot accept some harsh parts of reality. In general I believe that the whole idea of apophenia/patternicity is all bias, some theories of certain events can be true but others can be outrageously. Certain patterns should be acknowledged others should be people’s personal entertainment.
