[MD] Why are things called patterns?

[craigerb at comcast.net]

In regard to "ideas, which produce what we know as matter":
it should be remembered how insignificant humans might be.
Firstly, the universe existed billions of years before humans & if humans demise, might exist billions of years after.
Secondly, there might be civilizations way more advanced than us, that make us look primitive. 
Craig