malcolmocean comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 25, chapter 96 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: NancyLebovitz 25 July 2013 04:36AM

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Comment author: malcolmocean 26 July 2013 01:29:53AM 3 points [-]

Funny to think about, but probably I just see patterns where there are none.

The part I've emphasized is oft called apophenia: "the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or connections in random or meaningless data."

In this case the data isn't random, but it may well be meaningless (i.e. not foreshadowing). I find the concept of apophenia a valuable way to understand how e.g. astrology seems so potent to so many people. Also conspiracy theories, etc. The apophenic tendencies of humans underlie many biases etc.