As always, correlation is not causation.

This has been seen with autism and inoculations as well as many other diseases. It also has been seen in other subjects as well such as firearms.

Superstition and magical thinking are rapidly overruning science in America. Logic is an un-cool, un-hip, dead-white-man thing. Expecte to see a bunch more of this sort of stuff. It makes me want to find a time machine and go back and live in the 1950s.

Wait, Jim. You mean my guns will go away if I duct-tape a dead cat to a cemetery? Don't tell Dianne Feinstein!

"Take two aspirin and call me in the morning".

Lots of things go away all by themselves. This classic line from doctors has less to do with the aspirin and more to do with getting the patient to be...patient.

Superstition and magical thinking are rapidly overruning science in America.

It would be helpful is so-called scientists actually did science in a reliable, reproducible way.

I think it's called scientific method. A pity so many can't, won't or are too busy cherry picking their results so they can publish that article and move along to the next grant/topic. Sadly, it is publish or perish.

That's what I took away from an article in the Wall Street Journal by a fellow in industry looking to find new applications of academic research and found out that for the most part he couldn't reproduce the results reported.

Superstition and magical thinking are rapidly overruning science in America.

Nah. It just feels that way because the media is overrun with stupid. More people than ever are abandoning religion in favor of rational thinking. We need to keep pushing for science-based learning instead of letting wankers get away with treating creationism as though it were science. We also need to teach people how to read studies.

"Correlation == causation" is at least a cognitive error. I never thought I'd be missing it.

Today the world runs on pure stimumulus-stimulus conditioning.

Not even a pseudo-logical connection is needed or desired between the shiny (enemy) and the large breasts (dead puppy) next to it; let the suckers' hindbrains reel them in.

Oh. And Squirrel!

This. Most published medical studies are wrong, according to Stanford's John Ioannides.

"It would be helpful is so-called scientists actually did science in a reliable, reproducible way."

Totally agree with you. What's the two biggest science issues we hear about these days? Global warming and medicine. How much of the info we hear about these topics is wrong? Nearly all of it.

"It makes me want to find a time machine and go back and live in the 1950s."

When everybody went to church, dagnabbit.

I've had a planter's wart on my foot for about 22 years(It appeared during college). Tried over-the-counter treatments, and freezing-nothing worked. The only time it completely went away was during my low carbing year. It's now back. I do think it is related to inflammation and the immune system. Back to a low carb lifestyle I go!

"As always, correlation is not causation"

No, correlation is 'not necessarily' causation, however, it sometimes (and often) really is an indicator of actual causation. It's become popular lately to blindly claim 'correlation is not causation' and reject any potential hypotheses based on empirical correlative evidence, but this is anti-reason. There's a correlation between me turning my stove on, and the stove getting hot ... to claim stoutly that one does not in general cause the other would constitute some kind of mental derangement requiring professional care.

No, correlation is 'not necessarily' causation, however, it sometimes (and often) really is an indicator of actual causation. -- Lobster at February 25, 2013 1:47 AM

Lobster,

I suggested two correlative subjects that have a known history of being abused.

I did not say that it is not possible. In the context of the cited article two years of colonics and having warts the comment was appropriate.