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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Monday, August 12, 2002

More common knowledge goodness
This excellent NY Times Magazine article discusses how humans tend to see patterns and even conspiracy in simple coincidences, and is worth reading just for that (''We are hard-wired to overreact to coincidences,'' says Persi Diaconis. ''It goes back to primitive man. You look in the bush, it looks like stripes, you'd better get out of there before you determine the odds that you're looking at a tiger. The cost of being flattened by the tiger is high. Right now, people are noticing any kind of odd behavior and being nervous about it" ... If not for this ability, a child could not learn to speak). But the article also touches on my old pet peeve of "common knowledge," where arthritic people can forecast bad weather (not true) and basketball players get "hot hands" and can predictably keep scoring (also not true). Good stuff.

[ Posted at 9:51 AM | Permalink ]