Seth's Blog : Apophenia cuts both ways

Apophenia cuts both ways

Apophenia is the uniquely human tendency to perceive meaningful patterns or connections in random or unrelated data, events, or objects.

Humans are story telling machines. And one thing we do is turn co-incident events into more than coincidences.

When we see faces and shapes in clouds, apophenia wastes our time in the form of pareidolia. There isn’t actually a teddy bear in that cloud, or a face in that grilled cheese sandwich.

On the other hand, our ability to make out patterns is essential when trying to understand a system. Systems are nothing but non-coordinated conspiracies, individuals following their interests in response to a culture that is shaped by individuals following their interests.

The skill worth developing is the insight to tell them apart. Useful stories when needed, uncorrelated noise when there’s nothing actually going on.