Apophenia
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Apophenia is the human tendency to perceive meaningful patterns within random data.
Example
The above picture is of Mt. Baker in northwestern Washington state. It was circulated with the following email:
- Bro. Branham on the Mountain
- Did you see Bro. Branham's face in the mountain yesterday?? Sis. ________ showed it to me on her camera, and I had to take a picture. It was so clear even the kids could see it.
This is a clear example of apophenia. Can you also see the bird? Is that an eagle? No... wait... it looks like a goose. Is it William Branham or just a pattern that looks like a face? Or is it whatever you think it is?
Footnotes