Name of something that is forced to look a certain way

[Niaboc67]

I was looking up information about phi and how it seems apparent everywhere in nature, debatable. I stumbled upon this photo which is quite funny:

This got me thinking about how people try to fit and force data to match whichever hypothesis they have. This is more jokingly, I think. However, Phi (golden ratio) seems particularly applicable to many scenarios (especially metaphysical) which people apply to many things entirely unfounded/unrelated. It's this way with many ambiguous concepts which seems to have the ability to fit many things. What is this idea called? or the logical fallacy I am sensing? would it just be considered the fallacy of ambiguity?

Thank you

 

[jedishrfu]

I read about a similar circumstance where the pyramids were said to be built using pi. At first it was quite surprising that the Egyptian engineers did that until someone said the pyramid height was N cubits tall and the base was N rolls of a cylinder of diameter of 1 cubit.

Here's an article that talks about and how it got debunked:

http://egypt.hitchins.net/the-pyramids/pyramid-myths/khufus-pyramid-does-not.html

 

[zoobyshoe]

This got me thinking about how people try to fit and force data to match whichever hypothesis they have...

...What is this idea called? or the logical fallacy I am sensing? would it just be considered the fallacy of ambiguity?

Confirmation bias, also called myside bias, is the tendency to search for, interpret, or remember information in a way that confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses.[Note 1][1] It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic error of inductive reasoning. People display this bias when they gather or recall information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. People also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. Biased search, interpretation and memory have been invoked to explain attitude polarization (when a disagreement becomes more extreme even though the different parties are exposed to the same evidence), belief perseverance (when beliefs persist after the evidence for them is shown to be false), the irrational primacy effect (a greater reliance on information encountered early in a series) and illusory correlation (when people falsely perceive an association between two events or situations)...

-Wikipedia

 

[Danger]

people apply to many things entirely unfounded/unrelated. It's this way with many ambiguous concepts which seems to have the ability to fit many things. What is this idea called?

Fox News.

 

[Niaboc67]

Confirmation bias does seem to be the one! Thanks all

 

[leroyjenkens]

I think a lot of the golden ratios people claim exist are just inexact measurements, and if it's close to 1.618, they say "close enough" and it's added to the list of things that conform to that ratio.

 

[Danger]

I think a lot of the golden ratios people claim exist are just inexact measurements, and if it's close to 1.618, they say "close enough" and it's added to the list of things that conform to that ratio.

That can be said for just about anything that a partisan group wants to "pigeon-hole". Wars have been fought over such things.

 

[Evo]

We don't discuss 'golden ratio' woo woo here, so let's not go there.

 

[Danger]

We don't discuss 'golden ratio' woo woo here, so let's not go there.

Ooops! You know how much I disdain and ignore math...
To me, "golden ratio" is a reference to the proportions used when drawing or modelling a human body. (ie: The perfect whole body is 8 heads tall.)

 

[Evo]

Ooops! You know how much I disdain and ignore math...
To me, "golden ratio" is a reference to the proportions used when drawing or modelling a human body. (ie: The perfect whole body is 8 heads tall.)

It's also the source of a ton of woo woo. I know you do not woo.

 

[Danger]

It's also the source of a ton of woo woo. I know you do not woo.

And once again I had to veer off to Google in a total state of perplexity. I have absolutely never seen that term used in print, and certainly not in polite company. The only time that I've heard it was on Yank TV in reference to, uh... lady parts...

 

[Evo]

Never even heard of it as in 'to woo a woman" as in 'to court her"? But woo woo is cracked pottery.

 

[Danger]

Never even it heard of as in 'to woo a woman" as in 'to court her"?

Sure, but when doubled it apparently takes on an entirely new context.

 

[zoki85]

I had to google about "woo woo" meaning: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woo+woo

 

[Danger]

I had to google about "woo woo" meaning: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woo woo

Me too. By the bye, isn't it amazing that in such a tiny article a dictionary writer manages to absolutely mangle the spellings of both "ludicrous" and "telekinesis"?

 

[zoki85]

Me too. By the bye, isn't it amazing that in such a tiny article a dictionary writer manages to absolutely mangle the spellings of both "ludicrous" and "telekinesis"?

LOL, he is even worse than me.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I had to google about "woo woo" meaning: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woo woo

From definition #11:

origin- derived from the 'woowoo' sound used in science fiction background music, particularly The X-Files.

I'm pretty sure this is right, that the term started as an imitation of the kind of music they use for atmosphere in paranormal movies and shows. Like the sound of the theremin. I also think the term is more prevalent in the UK than the US.

 

[DennisN]

It's this way with many ambiguous concepts which seems to have the ability to fit many things. What is this idea called?

I would also mention confirmation bias, but there is also something called apophenia;

Apophenia is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data.

The term is attributed to Klaus Conrad by Peter Brugger, who defined it as the "unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a "specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness", but it has come to represent the human tendency to seek patterns in random information in general, such as with gambling and paranormal phenomena.

 

[AnOldStudent]

I would also mention confirmation bias, but there is also something called apophenia;
...
Apophenia is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data.

The term is attributed to Klaus Conrad by Peter Brugger, who defined it as the "unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a "specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness", but it has come to represent the human tendency to seek patterns in random information in general, such as with gambling and paranormal phenomena.

I learned a new word apophenia :D
However random things in front of me are, if my mood is better soothed with the outcome from their random connections, I think I'm leading a happy life.
If the connection is done on purpose then that should no longer be called 'random'. I love random fables to bend my thoughts fabulously.

 

[Danger]

I'm really starting to wonder what they put in your tea at the home...

 

[DivergentSpectrum]

Its probably a form of apophenia, where people see patterns in things that arent related.

I think a while back i realized that something like the nth fibonacci number divided by the (n-1)th fibonacci number equals the golden ratio if n is approaching infinity . i don't think i ever figured out why or if i did it just wasnt very interesting so i don't remember.

 

[Niaboc67]

DennisD you hit the nail on the head. I remember now it was patternicity, which is essentially apophenia. THANK YOU!