Pareidolia

Americans and Europeans see the face of a man in the moon. Based on his appearance, he seems happy and benevolent. Originally he was a moral reminder to avoid criminal behavior, not so happy. But Asians see Yu Tu, a moon rabbit, preparing a potion for the Moon goddess. * You can see anything you like in clouds of sufficient bulk. Shakespeare demonstrated a cloud could be a camel, weasel, or whale when Hamlet ridiculed Polonius. * Once Schiaparelli suggested there were canals on Mars, it was hard not to see them. This started an industry fed by astronomer Percival Lowell and science-fiction writers. * Why not circular cities on the Moon as William Hershell reported? Why not a face on Martian mesa, inspiring once again theories of a dead alien civilization on Mars? Why not the face of Jesus in a piece of toast? Why not tiny humans and dragons in inclusions in polished limestone only millimeters long from the Silurian period? * I met a man on campus once, who sought out television sets in empty rooms. At that time you could switch to a channel that no one was broadcasting on to hear only white noise and see a storm of dancing gray static. He would find an unused set and switch the channel to static because he was convinced that alien intelligences were broadcasting on these unused channels and were trying to communicate with him. * It’s pretty hard not to think of pink elephants if you’re told to go stand on a corner and not think of them. * Don’t get me started on constellations. I don’t need to explain there aren’t really lines between stars, or why some people see Orion and others see three Marys.