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What Was That About Correlation & Causation?

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By Anna W - December 12th, 2011, 12:00PM

Via Businessweek, we learn that Facebook caused the Greek Debt crisis, Global Warming is caused by NSF R&D budget, and other spurious correlations:

Need to prove something you already believe? Statistics are easy: All you need are two graphs and a leading question.

Wonky amusing fun for any statistically innumerate eejit on your holiday list.

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Source:
Correlation or Causation?
Vali Chandrasekaran
BusinessWeek December 1, 2011  
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/correlation-or-causation-12012011-gfx.html

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PERMALINK
Category: Humor, Markets, Mathematics.

Comments

Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

8 Responses to “What Was That About Correlation & Causation?”

  1. RW Says:
    December 12th, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    Brilliant parody, just brilliant.

    Any bets the Bachman campaign will demand that Staten Island Cakes be put back on the air?

  2. Long term Says:
    December 12th, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    Where is Dead Hobo? Methinks he’ll love this.

  3. mathman Says:
    December 12th, 2011 at 1:11 pm

    That’s GREAT Barry!

    Here’s a site with some better contenders for the presidency

    http://www.tshirtbordello.com/Cthulhu-Dagon-2012-T-Shirt

  4. Expat Says:
    December 12th, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    Articles about correlation and causation lead to large market drops, typically around 200 points on the Dow.

  5. BusSchDean Says:
    December 12th, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    Nicely Done!! But meaningless correlations are so much more fun than any real understanding of underlying causation. Now if we can just get women to wear shorter skirts our problems with the market will be solved.

  6. dead hobo Says:
    December 12th, 2011 at 2:29 pm

    Long term Says:
    December 12th, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    Where is Dead Hobo? Methinks he’ll love this.

    reply:
    —————
    No man, we’re all children of the universe (or the computer approximation of one) and everything is related to everything else. A butterfly in the Amazon can easily cause the S&P to gain 1000 points if it tells you its secrets. (If it won’t use Raid … fuck it).

  7. Douglas Watts Says:
    December 12th, 2011 at 2:45 pm

    Pattern recognition seems to be an innate human ability; parsing from coincident patterning (pariedolia, for example) and causal (directed) patterning seems to be more of a learned behavior. Science is literally the art of separating the two.

  8. theexpertisin Says:
    December 12th, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    Can’t wait for the Super Bowl to gain “foolproof” insight into a number of future events.

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