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In reply to the discussion: Our brains have evolved to look for patterns and assign meaning, even when none exist. [View all]Silent3
(14,962 posts)50. All it takes for overzealous pattern recognition to be an evolutionary advantage...
...is for such pattern recognition to, ON AVERAGE, produce better survival results that less zealous pattern detection or no pattern detection at all. There's no guarantee in the evolutionary process that the right mutations will occur that put a better option on the table (say, strong pattern recognition with good elimination of false positives) for natural selection to favor.
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Our brains have evolved to look for patterns and assign meaning, even when none exist. [View all]
cleanhippie
Mar 2012
OP
So basically saying science can be used to study the brain and the evolution of it is...
Humanist_Activist
Mar 2012
#5
The simplest example of this would be the constellations and looking for shapes in clouds...
Humanist_Activist
Mar 2012
#6
Exactly. And unfortunately, people still assign agenticity as seen in horoscopes.
cleanhippie
Mar 2012
#10
I don't forget that we live in groups, your explanation didn't have anything to do with groups.
Jim__
Mar 2012
#19
Anecdotal evidence: Astrology columns in newspapers. Useless gambling systems.
Jim Lane
Mar 2012
#21
Your answer indicates that you are far more prone to see patterns than to be overly skeptical.
Jim__
Mar 2012
#24
All it takes for overzealous pattern recognition to be an evolutionary advantage...
Silent3
Mar 2012
#50