Apophenia - You are Not So Smart by David McRaney

Apophenia - You are Not So Smart by David McRaney ------------ unabuonasceneggiatura narrativaematematica ilviaggiodelleroe ilmiracolomensile nuvoleputinielibrigialli allergiaalcaos

ApopheniaRead more at location 1132

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THE MISCONCEPTION: Some coincidences are so miraculous, they must have meaning. THE TRUTH: Coincidences are a routine part of life, even the seemingly miraculous ones. Any meaning applied to them comes from your mind.Read more at location 1135

Note: IL RUOLO DELLA FORTUNA Edit

Screenwriters and novelists have discovered over the years a number of tropes that you tend to understandRead more at location 1137

Note: SCRITTORI Edit

Every story needs a strong protagonist with whom you can identify.Read more at location 1139

Note: SCENEGGIATURA Edit

Early on, the protagonist will save someone without having to, and you start to like him or her.Read more at location 1141

Note: IL BUONO Edit

On the other side, you need a dastardly antagonist who harms someone for no reason, a person who ignores the rules and wants only to satisfy him-Read more at location 1141

Note: IL CATTIVO Edit

Just when it seems as though the protagonist will fail, he or she overcomes whatever has been in the way, in order to defeat the antagonist, sometimes even saving the world in the process.Read more at location 1143

Note: PRIMA IL BUONO SEMBRA PERDERE POI VINCE Edit

Joseph Campbell made it his life’s work to identify the common mythology in all humans, the stories you and everyone else know in your hearts. He called the outline above the hero’s journey,Read more at location 1146

Note: IL VIAGGIO DELL EROE Edit

the hero’s journey is a monomyth that plugs into your mind like a key into a lock.Read more at location 1148

Note: MITI E NARRATIVA Edit

Maths, science, and logic are much harder to contemplate than social situations.Read more at location 1150

Note: LOGICA E NARRATIVA Edit

Just as with television and film, your memory tends to delete the boring parts and focus on the highlights—the plot points.Read more at location 1151

Note: MEMORIA: UNA STORIA DI HIGHLIGHT Edit

In a mystery like The Da Vinci Code, or in a television series like Lost, where mysterious happenings are at the center of the plot, clues pop up that turn out to be connected in some strange way. You can’t help but be intrigued by the patterns slowly coalescing.Read more at location 1153

Note: INDIZI SPARSI E SENSO CHE EMERGE Edit

You find yourself compelled to keep turning the pageRead more at location 1155

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When you do this in the real world, it is called apophenia.Read more at location 1156

Note: CONNETTERE I PUNTINI Edit

Apophenia is an umbrella term that encompasses other phenomena, like the Texas sharpshooter fallacy and pareidolia.Read more at location 1157

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you draw a circle around a series of random events and decide there is some meaning in the chaos that isn’t really there. In pareidolia, you see shapes like clouds or tree limbs as people or faces.Read more at location 1158

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Apophenia is refusing to believe in clutter and noise, in coincidence and chance.Read more at location 1159

Note: IL RIFIUTO DELLA FORTUNA Edit

Apophenia most often appears in your life when you experience synchronicity.Read more at location 1160

Note: SINCRONIA Edit

The clock reads 11:11 P.M. The next time you look, it reads 12:12 A.M. A brief sense of wonder turns your headRead more at location 1162

Note: OROLOGI Edit

You might find it amazing you share the same birthday as a dozen of your favorite celebrities, even though at any given time you share your birthday with about 16 million people.Read more at location 1168

Note: COMPLEANNI Edit

You might see a person who wins the lottery three times in a row as having an extra helping of magical luck, but multiple lottery winners are actually rather common.Read more at location 1171

Note: LOYTERIA Edit

In this way, you can see apophenia isn’t always a bad thing. You need a sense of meaning to get out of bed, to push forward against the grain.Read more at location 1177

Note: IL LATO POSITIVO DELL APOPHENIA Edit

Your mind is preorganized to notice order, even when the order is defined by your culture and not your synapses.Read more at location 1179

Note: CULTURA E SINAPSI Edit

In general, you prefer nice round numbers that correspond to the decimal system you’ve grown accustomed to using.Read more at location 1182

Note: NUMERI DECIMALI Edit

The law of truly large numbersRead more at location 1185

Note: LEGGE DEI GRANDI NUMERI Edit

The law says in a large sample of occurrences, many coincidences will emerge.Read more at location 1185

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J. E. Littlewood, a mathematician at Cambridge University, wrote about the law of truly large numbers in his 1986 book, Littlewood’s Miscellany.Read more at location 1188

Note: IL LIBRO Edit

He said the average person is alert for about eight hours every day, and something happens to the average person about once a second. At this rate, you will experience 1 million events every thirty-five days. This means when you say the chances of something happening are one in a million, it also means about once a month. The monthly miracle is called Littlewood’s Law.Read more at location 1189

Note: IL MIRACOLO MENSILE Edit

Apophenia isn’t just seeing order in chaos, it is believing you were destined to see it.