I got a kick reading an article by Wired’s editor in chief; which to me, was just intellectual masturbation (poorly executed at that), and hopefully would not be taken seriously. Then again, considering there are idiots who believe in “intelligent design,” I guess common sense would be too much to hope for.
The article suggests that given the abundance of available information through any form of media, statistical correlation supersedes causation. He [correctly] used Google as an example; wherein they are able to provide reliable search results by mere statistical analysis.
So basically, if you want to apply statistical correlation as truth, then one could suggest that hospitals kill people, because clearly the majority of deaths happen within their evil walls! And statistically, that correlation will increase over time… the horror! They must be destroyed.
Thankfully, Ars Technica was there to set things straight. But I personally can’t help being a bit fidgety, since Ars has been bought by Wired’s parent company – which is kinda ironic and amusing in a disturbing sort of way. It’s nice to know though that as of now, Ars still is a reliable source of intelligent information – let’s hope that never changes.
