Since I seem to be on a British theme this week, how about a little bit of British comedy. Here's some godless comedy from the show "That Mitchell and Webb Look". The very last line is pure comedy.
Showing posts with label apophenia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label apophenia. Show all posts
Godless Comedy
Posted by : Rev. Ouabache | Tuesday, July 14, 2009 | Published in apophenia, atheism, larf, skepticism, video
Objectophilia
Posted by : Rev. Ouabache | Thursday, March 26, 2009 | Published in apophenia, denialism, video
I... just... I have no words to explain this. It's just too surreal. You just need to see this documentary about "Objectum Sexuals", people who fall in love with inanimate objects. This clip includes a professional archer who fell in and out of love with her bow and then decided to marry the Eiffel Tower. All seven parts are on YouTube but I'll just post part one here.
(NOTE: The original video that was here was taken down by YouTube for copyright issues. Here is a slightly edited version of the show. Hopefully this one will stay on YouTube.)
(NOTE: The original video that was here was taken down by YouTube for copyright issues. Here is a slightly edited version of the show. Hopefully this one will stay on YouTube.)
Dennett at Ted Talks
Posted by : Rev. Ouabache | Tuesday, March 10, 2009 | Published in apophenia, Christianity, evolution, memes, meta, science, skepticism, video
Here's a great video I just found on YouTube a couple of days ago. Daniel Dennett at TED Talks 2 years ago explaining the design of religion and giving a verbal smack down to Rick Warren who just happened to be in the audience. I'm a big fan of TED Talks and an even bigger fan of Dennett. He's easily my favorite of the "Four Horsemen of Atheism". Go read "Breaking the Spell" right now, fool!
Nice!
Posted by : Rev. Ouabache | Sunday, February 22, 2009 | Published in apophenia, discordianism, law of fives
Some anonymous person over at Chaos Never Died pointed this out a few days ago and I just now saw it.
I swear that that wasn't intentional but I'm going to aim for 23 posts per month from now on just to see if I can do it.
I swear that that wasn't intentional but I'm going to aim for 23 posts per month from now on just to see if I can do it.
Face of Darwin Appears in Ice!
Posted by : Rev. Ouabache | Thursday, February 5, 2009 | Published in apophenia, evolution, law of fives, skepticism
As proof that "god" approves of the upcoming Darwin Day events, an icicle in the Pacific Northwest has formed in the shape of Charles Darwin's face completely with beard and wizened eyes. Scientists are baffled about how such a large and detailed ice crystal can appear without the help of an unspecified designer. Praise Darwin!!
Apophenia: Seeing the fnords
Posted by : Rev. Ouabache | Thursday, January 15, 2009 | Published in apophenia, discordianism, law of fives
One of the biggest links between Discordianism and Skepticism is Apophenia, the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. A more specific form of apophenia is Pareidolia, finding images or sounds in randomness. This includes things like the Man in the Moon, bunnies in the clouds, inkblots, EVP, hearing Satan's voice in backmasking, seeing the Virgin Mary's face in a grilled cheese sandwich, and, of course, seeing either a star or pentagon in 5 pebbles.
Apophenia is covered several times in the Principia Discordia. First there is the Law of Fives: ALL THINGS HAPPEN IN FIVES, OR ARE DIVISIBLE BY OR ARE MULTIPLES OF FIVE, OR ARE SOMEHOW DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY APPROPRIATE TO 5. In other words, if you try hard enough your mind can make enough convoluted paths that all lead back to the sacred 5. Even when a number doesn't have a five in it, doesn't add up to five and isn't a multiple of five your brain can still find a way to coax a five out of it. And the more you look for fives the more fives you see in your everyday life. "I find the Law of Fives to be more and more manifest the harder I look."
Another great example of apophenia in the PD is Starbuck's Pebbles.
Apophenia is covered several times in the Principia Discordia. First there is the Law of Fives: ALL THINGS HAPPEN IN FIVES, OR ARE DIVISIBLE BY OR ARE MULTIPLES OF FIVE, OR ARE SOMEHOW DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY APPROPRIATE TO 5. In other words, if you try hard enough your mind can make enough convoluted paths that all lead back to the sacred 5. Even when a number doesn't have a five in it, doesn't add up to five and isn't a multiple of five your brain can still find a way to coax a five out of it. And the more you look for fives the more fives you see in your everyday life. "I find the Law of Fives to be more and more manifest the harder I look."
Another great example of apophenia in the PD is Starbuck's Pebbles.
Do these 5 pebbles REALLY form a pentagon?
Those biased by the Aneristic Illusion would say yes. Those biased by the Eristic Illusion would say no. Criss-cross them and it is a star.An Illuminated Mind can see all of these, yet he does not insist that any one is really true, or that none at all is true. Stars, and pentagons, and disorder are all his creations and he may do with them as he wishes. Indeed, even so the concept of number 5.
The real reality is there, but everything you KNOW about "it" is in your mind and yours to do with as you like. Conceptualization is art, and YOU ARE THE ARTIST.
The lines between the pebbles don't really exist. You are the one that creates them. Your brain takes what should be completely useless information, five stones, and processes it into useful information, a shape. There is absolutely no reason for your brain to do this. And there is no way to stop your brain from doing it without rigorous practice.
The grey stuff between your ears is constantly processing data from the world around you. It places a grid over everything you see. When data is missing, it fills in the gaps. When presented with completely random noise your brain sees signals that aren't there.
In the next several days I hope to post on how Skepticism deals with these false signals.
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