Apophenia is the term used for the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things.

I included this definition for completeness, but the term doesn’t hold much weight with me.

I find it to be a threat to the proper development of our human instincts.

Humans see connections.

That’s how we connect and our instincts are just as important to our existence as they are to any other mammalian species.

Humans are the only animals that train their young to ignore natural instincts in favor of rubics.

Just because YOU may not see a connection over THERE doesn’t mean a connection does not exist over HERE. It’s simply not recognized over THERE.

Our lack of early instinctual training is the real problem, not the instinct.

How many coincidences does it take to make a pattern?

Recognizing patterns and connectivity is part of my work skill set. However, in my self evaluation I had to be sure that I considered all possibilities.

So when does apophenia become epiphany?

The term Apophenia was coined by German neurologist Klaus Conrad in the early 1950s.  Klaus Conrad joined the Nazi Party in 1940, and I’m not entirely trusting of humanity in Nazi neurology.

No one disputes the strength of German science, the Manhattan Project was developed as a response to the strength of that science. However, those scientists did not operate with humanitarian motivations. They were(are) separatist.

Scientists are human beings, and as such are subject to the same cognitive bias as anyone else. To the unaware, the white lab coats give an aura of being above such emotional mediocrity. As if being a scientist negates being human.

While good scientists strive to separate their personal feelings from their work, the mindset of the scientist forms the basis of their hypotheses and conjectures. Which in turn will create the path of their research.

A scientist seeking a way to separate will find the evidence to support compartmentalization, and the scientist looking for a way to connect will find evidence to support self similarity.

Perhaps Klaus Conrad’s post WWII German mindset caused him to make an improper connection about connectedness.