Search results for: causation

I naively branded causation (even just time as the basis of correlation) as “weird” when I first started this philosophical quest over 20 years ago. Paging Bishop Berkeley anyone? And of course the more we unpick layers of determinism and emergence, upward and downward causation, the weirder it gets. Some things never change. Time and … Continue reading “Causation and Existence”

Finally, our #CauSciBook exists. Many years in the making @ranilillanjum pic.twitter.com/Si1tNv3tCr — Stephen Mumford (@SDMumford) October 17, 2018 Expensive first release in hardback, so I will need some justification to buy, but clearly an important topic to me. Causation remains much weirder than everyday common sense. I am not aware of either author or any … Continue reading “Causation in Science”

Correlation is not causation … … smart-asses often point out when someone mis-uses some statistical or perceived correlation. That’s true, and easy enough when potential common causal connections are obviously available, but that’s quite unusual in the “real world”. Causation is fundamentally mysterious even in simple Newtonian billiard-ball cases, or our daily expectation of sunrise, … Continue reading “Correlation is not Causation, but …”

“Causation is seriously weird” – has been a mantra since the earliest days of this blog. Here in in 2006 I was already wearily “bearing in mind” the problem with time / ordering / causation first noted in 2001. It was already a given. Bearing in mind that “causation” is itself a pretty weird concept … Continue reading “Causation Conundrum”

I have many times left hanging the idea that causation is seriously weird, if you get down to looking closely at what we really mean or try to explain how it works. “… important assumptions about time and causality at base — seriously weird concepts when you research beyond common sense — a recurring issue … Continue reading “Unpicking Confused Causation with Massimo Pigliucci”

Facts, Causation & Speculation Any “facts” not in the links provided are purely speculative on my part, but the connections are real enough. Anyone saying this happened because that happened should be confined to a lab, unless their whole audience recognises their rhetorical intent. Three of these items are connected by the fourth – in … Continue reading “Causation – It’s Complicated”

Here a great example – the “Miami Bath-Salts Zombie Cannibal” case. Spookily, Tom Kreider’s current “This is the Worst” project has an image linked to the case too. Gruesome.

This Feb 2010 post from David McRaney confirms evidence of how much we like explanations that involve causation, particularly causation we are in control of. Your brain doesn’t like randomness, and so it tries to connect a cause to every effect; when it can’t, you make one up.