Re:America is giving up on the pandemic?
by wendyshu on Sunday June 07, 2020 @09:54PM
(#23452834)
This is a causal claim but you've only adduced correlations.
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Re:America is giving up on the pandemic?
by MickerNews on Monday June 08, 2020 @06:03AM
(#23455206)
You can never prove causality.
All general statements are false.
Joking aside, you can sometimes prove causality. It's just not as easy as proving a correlation. The most broadly accepted method would be a RCT (randomized controlled trial), though it is often unethical or unfeasible.
You can also build on causal assumption that everyone agrees on. (Like: A person's gender cannot be caused by a government policy. A person winning the lottery is not caused by anything other than playing the lottery.) From such knowledge you can build a causal graph, and (in some cases) draw new causal conclusions from statistical data.
Long story short: you cannot just dismiss a correlation as being useless for any proof of causality.