Patterns, clouds and dragons

If we look for patterns, we’ll find them. We can’t help it. We see patterns in data, faces, events, clouds, stories and nature. 

We’re pattern-finding machines and this ability to find patterns is one of our learning and survival mechanisms. 

Our ability to find patterns and meaning in chaos is wonderful for speculation, for creative thinking and for imagining what might be. 

But like anything we can take it too far. 

When we find a pattern, we can often confuse what we can “see” with what “is”. We see correlation and causation in the chaos and assume that it maps to reality. 

While these patterns may occasionally represent the real world accurately, they’re much more like to be metaphors for what’s in the real world. 

There’s a relationship, but it’s tenuous, or representational, or it’s an allegory or a story. 

The cloud might conjure images of a dragon  or a giant cheesecake – but in most respects it’s just a mass of water vapour. 

When we see patterns it’s worth us taking a moment to ask ourself whether the dragon is real, or whether it’s really just a cloud that looks like one.