Apophenia

[zotz]

Interestingly, this word (as used by Gibson in his new one) is real enough, but doesn't appear in the OED - not even the online one - in spite of having been in use since the late fifties. I guess that it must have been in fairly restricted use. That's a shame, because it's a great word that I would have used in anger at least several times by now if I'd known it.

And the meaning? Spotting apparent (but illusory) patterns in random data or events.