(no subject)

[rivka]

I get so testy sometimes. But they drive me to it! I swear!

If I could wave a wand and have one scientific concept automagically understood by everyone in the world, it would be variability. How 'bout you?

Comments

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

Correlation != Causality

[kiya]

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.)

[nsingman.livejournal.com]

Disprovability.

No mysticism for me, thankyouverymuch. :-)

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Cause -> Effect.

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.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

How 'bout you?

"Sensitive dependence on initial conditions"

[submarine-bells.livejournal.com]

"Correlation does not equal causality" would get my vote.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

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.

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

Vote early, vote often. Teach your children how to detect the damned lies in statistics.

[geminigirl]

Validity. It would have to be statistical significance....that you can't correlate to all women when a study only includes 30 white women.