Nice article in Scientific American by Michael “The Skeptic” Shermer where he talks about the human brain’s natural ability for pattern recognition and such phenomena as the ‘Paul is dead’ thing, Grilled Cheese Mary, and Jesus on the Halfshell:
Consider a few cases of false pattern recognition… the face of the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich; the face of Jesus on an oyster shell (resembles Charles Manson, I think); the hit NBC television series Medium, in which Patricia Arquette plays psychic Allison Dubois, whose occasional thoughts and dreams seem connected to real-world crimes; the film White Noise, in which Michael Keaton’s character believes he is receiving messages from his dead wife through tape recorders and other electronic devices in what is called EVP, or Electronic Voice Phenomenon. EVP is another version of what I call TMODMP, the Turn Me On, Dead Man Phenomenon–if you scan enough noise, you will eventually find a signal, whether it is there or not.
thanks BoingBoing!
April 26th, 2005 at 4:30 pm
Does that mean that eventually we will get Kats’ signal from Giga Wing?
“You have no chance to survive make your time”
April 26th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
Yup.. scan enough random noise, and sooner or later you’ll hear a voice clearly say:
“WHAT YOU SAY?!”
April 27th, 2005 at 6:29 am
But not before you forcefully command your subordinates:
“MAIN SCREEN TURN ON!”
April 27th, 2005 at 6:29 am
But not before you forcefully command your subordinates:
“MAIN SCREEN TURN ON!”
April 27th, 2005 at 6:31 am
Gah… fucking dial-up… making me feel like my post never got through… but, what with my messages coming from the proverbial bottom of a cosmic sweet-water abyss…….
April 27th, 2005 at 11:03 am
It’s funnier when one sees the pic and the headline without redaing the article. “Taht’s what the Virgin Sandwich looks like today? EEEEEWWWWW!”