Comments on: Correlated

By: sviga lae

sviga lae — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 09:54:44 +0000

To bayessplain, correlation is evidence to the exact extent that the lack of correlation is anti-evidence.

By: Mike in Boston

Mike in Boston — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 05:28:41 +0000

I haven’t gone through it in detail (nor even gotten, to my and perhaps SanguineEmpiricist’s dismay, through all of Pearl) but David Jensen has some interesting work on plausibly inferring causality if your data is relational enough and you have plenty of it. See e.g. http://auai.org/uai2013/prints/papers/197.pdf .

By: E. Antony Gray (@RiverC)

E. Antony Gray (@RiverC) — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 02:23:49 +0000

“He went for a walk because kinesin turn ATP into movement!”

– no one in their right mind, ever

(i hope)

By: Shlomo Maistre

Shlomo Maistre — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 22:59:13 +0000

When small minds boast that “correlation doesn’t mean causation” they’re more often than not betraying a misguided grasp of logic.

Thinking man capable of proving causation in a vacuum that’s devoid of mere happenstance, sophists (small minds) assume that man is capable of “observing” and, more absurd still, “isolating” a particular cause. Were this fantastic belief justified there could be no problem of induction – only its solution.

Throw a ball in the air and it will drop to the ground. Man observes the law of gravity, but he proves no law by observation or any action whatsoever.

All man observes is effect. All the natural world is an endless interplay of effects across space and time. Every material force is a cause only insofar as it is already an effect.

Obviously correlation does not mean causation. And were inductive reasoning a real thing then perhaps man would be capable of “proving” causation… ever. Alas.

By: Deogolwulf

Deogolwulf — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 20:47:29 +0000

“‘Necessary, but not sufficient’ are four golden words that would save the world untold confusion and trouble.”

Too true. If only the moderns had borne them in mind. For instance: efficient cause is necessary but not sufficient for the explanation of effect.

By: vxxc2014

vxxc2014 — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 20:28:31 +0000

O/T but there’s a lesson here.

Mighty Wurlitzer

“Together, the groups formed what one U.S. agent called a “Mighty Wurlitzer,” an organ for playing variations on an anticommunist fugue. ”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a1M9EAly2hog

Apparently included Gloria Steinem and Henry Kissinger.

By: vxxc2014

vxxc2014 — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 20:19:26 +0000

As we speak Gnon’s Crab pincers ankylose into deadly swinging stumps, for Gnon’s Crab feels no pain or empathy.

The Ankylosis is nigh. Who shall be it’s Xenophon?

By: vxxc2014

vxxc2014 — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 20:14:50 +0000

I shall now attempt to ankylose my seemingly only correlated musings into one fused deadly arm. Of solid bone, there’s no use being subtle anymore.

By: SanguineEmpiricist

SanguineEmpiricist — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 20:09:30 +0000

Every discussion about this topic is meaningless without ascertaining who themselves has done the very basic amount of prepatory work necessary and gone through Judea Pearl.

http://www.amazon.com/Causality-Reasoning-Inference-Judea-Pearl/dp/0521773628

By: Porphy's Attorney

Porphy's Attorney — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 19:18:33 +0000

I ran a VAR on this post though and Granger said “admin has a point, and not just on his head.”