The mind saw patterns, even when patterns were not there to see. Apophenia. Benji remembered an optical illusion created by Ryota Kanai, a neuroscientist, a white grid on a black background. At the center, the grid was whole and mathematically perfect. But toward the edges, the grid began to break down, literally separating into janky plus-signs instead of a complete grid. Thing was, if you stared at the center of this perfect grid long enough, the broken edges began to heal. Or, so it appeared. Because the mind did its very best to continue a pattern even when the pattern was incorrect, to
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