Humans are evolved pattern-spotting machines, often finding trends where none exist, which makes us terrible at producing and recognizing randomness. And research shows that those with stronger beliefs in the paranormal are even less prone to acknowledge randomness in, say, a truly unbiased series of coin tosses--independent of any other deficits in probabilistic reasoning.
Apophenia, or experiencing patterns and meaning where none exist, makes us see futures in tea leaves and faces in TV static. (I touch on this in a sidebar too.) But while linking a full moon to a fortuitous day on the hunt (or at the track) may not make sense in real life, hidden code may connect disparate phenomena in VR.
Similarly, chanting Beetlejuice three times may not make Anuar Zain appear in your living room, but pressing Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A gives you 3 extra lives in Contra, and if you're not into video games, your computer is full of Easter Eggs craftily hidden by wily software engineers. And that creepy old tree on the corner may not know your dirty past, but your Astro does and will suggest new programs based on your guilty-pleasure viewing habits.
Eventually programs will become more predictive and interactive, and it will make sense to treat algorithms as sentient creatures, as Neo does with the Agents, or Polices does with the rempiteers.
Hackers will be the new shamans.
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