“The reason… is that pattern perception compensates for feeling out of control in a sea of forces you do not comprehend.”
and
“The human mind prefers to believe that mysterious, invisible forces are secretly at work rather than that the world is random. ”
and
“If perceiving patterns, even illusory ones, soothes the helpless feeling of not being in control of a situation, then it’s no wonder people trick themselves into seeing and believing connections that aren’t there.”
a) Isn’t this what we call religion (and is religion then a conspiracy)? b) So we’ve spent all this time evolving with this fatal flaw?
“They induced a feeling of powerlessness in the participants by… having them answer questions and telling them that many of their answers were wrong—but with feedback so random, participants felt befuddled, unable to figure out which answer would be scored correct.”
Conclusion: They are f-king with me.