That original post irritated me too; I'm glad that someone replied to it. (I couldn't figure out how to do so usefully. But I did happily reply to one of your comments now, so I feel better.)
This one is obviously not as widely-understood as it would seem. Yesterday I was in heavy traffic, slowed down for about 15-20 minutes while police and tow trucks cleared a nasty accident out of an intersection. About twenty feet past the accident, one of the drivers who had been in the slowdown swerved across two lanes, accellerated, nearly rear-ended the car in front of her, swerved into another lane (needless to say, turn signals are things that happen to other people), and zoomed off. I was left beating my forehead with my hand, screaming "Cause and effect! Cause and effect, you STUPID BITCH!" Obviously, since the accident made her late, the smart thing to do was drive like a maniac to make up the lost time.
Sometimes, I honestly despair for the human species.
Somebody had already claimed that one, and the dependence on initial conditions is one that is often overlooked. But yeah, the difference betwixt correlation and causation is well worth noting.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
syntheid
no subject
Date: 2002-10-11 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-10-11 12:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-10-11 12:53 pm (UTC)No mysticism for me, thankyouverymuch. :-)
no subject
Date: 2002-10-11 12:54 pm (UTC)This one is obviously not as widely-understood as it would seem. Yesterday I was in heavy traffic, slowed down for about 15-20 minutes while police and tow trucks cleared a nasty accident out of an intersection. About twenty feet past the accident, one of the drivers who had been in the slowdown swerved across two lanes, accellerated, nearly rear-ended the car in front of her, swerved into another lane (needless to say, turn signals are things that happen to other people), and zoomed off. I was left beating my forehead with my hand, screaming "Cause and effect! Cause and effect, you STUPID BITCH!" Obviously, since the accident made her late, the smart thing to do was drive like a maniac to make up the lost time.
Sometimes, I honestly despair for the human species.
no subject
Date: 2002-10-11 01:13 pm (UTC)"Sensitive dependence on initial conditions"
no subject
Date: 2002-10-11 01:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-10-11 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-10-11 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-10-11 02:25 pm (UTC)