Not Even the Universe Can Catch a Break on Stumbleupon
August 14, 2007 by Sara Ost
Filed under Beauty, Blogosphere, Psychology, Review, Science, WOO hoo!, Web
You’ve seen this, right? Mouse brain cell, meet universe.
The pictures are fine, but what’s far more entertaining are the Stumbleupon reviews.
A few choice gems:
“Those of you who think this has significance are idiots. Those of you who who are mad that this page exists are also idiots.”
“It kind of looks the same…hooray?”
“Neural structure and cosmic structure exhibit some similarities, leading to the ridiculous statement: ‘Physicists discover that the structure of a brain cell is the same as the entire universe.’”
Bottom line: we humans are hardwired for pattern recognition and we love to construct meaning out of it. (We make dozens of logical fallacies every day.)
If you’re into psychology with an edge (smarty):
Check out Mind Hacks and Psyblog.
Click for more. You’ll like it.
It’s never a bad time for incredible photos of life on this planet.
Deep-sea siphonophore (a little like a jellyfish).
This bedazzled buddy hasn’t been named yet. Ornamental Kiss?
Ping-pong tree sponge.
See, the New York Times isn’t all bad.
Wow, great links. And now I want a ping-pong tree sponge! They’re so cool looking. I have no idea of the scale but it’s would be fun if it weren’t something microscopic. I’m hoping they’re actually ten feet tall and carniverous.
Mice are pan-galactic super beings, as recorded by the “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”. So this “coincidence” surprises me not.
I can’t take my eyes off the siphonophore photograph.
MindHacks and PsyBlog RSS-bookmarked. More of my free time down the pan. Goody.
Crabby, ping pong is wee, but not microscopic. Carnivorous would be awesome – or what about your basic aggression issues? You know, you’re walking by the aquarium, and pow! Angry Ping has attempted to clock you through the glass yet again (sigh). Actually it might be better if Ping were small…Napoleon syndrome and all that.
Wow, that was some tangent.
Mike, your comments are hilarious as usual, thanks for adding some value to these posts.
You’ll definitely enjoy those blogs – they’re excellent! Check out the Freakonomics blog and Kottke, too.
hi nice post, i enjoyed it
hi nice post, i enjoyed it
I’m doing social psychology, and desperately needed to get away from it for a bit so thanks. BTW re the brain cell and universe images; they probably have a similar shape they are made by the same creator. The apparent similarity between a brain cell and the universe images are the result of the fact that they are both produced by computer simulations based on numerical data. To base any conclusions on this is like saying that the moon is similar to a balloon because they are the same shape!