Diagnosis unclear, I haven't been diagnosed with Pluto, yet...
this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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Shark attacks cause ice cream sales
Are you suggesting there's a common cause for pluto and autism?
No, the opposite; it's a classic example showing that correlation doesn't necessitate causation. I was just playing with the phrasing to imply the humorous inverse that there is a casual link.
I thought my joke was very clear, I understand what you were saying.
Ah hell, that's how I first read it then I second guessed myself on the irony later!
No, the opposite; it’s a classic example showing that correlation doesn’t necessitate causation.
Right, but ice cream sales and shark attacks have a shared cause, and it's the weather. Humans both get in the ocean where they are shark-accessible more often and also buy more ice cream when it's hot out.
Basically causation is X->Y. But there are other relationships between X and Y, and in the case of ice cream sales and shark attacks it's W->X and W->Y (one doesn't cause the other, but they are caused by the same thing). It's also possible for two things to correlate without any connection whatsoever, because sometimes things just happen to move in the same directions at the same times for a while.
People have trouble dealing with that, and much magical thinking arises from X and Y happening together being believed to necessarily mean X and Y are connected in some fashion because humans are very good at building patterns even when they don't exist.
That's literally where the vaccines cause autism thing started from - kids start showing clear signs of autism at about the same age they get several vaccines. The guy who originally proposed it with a deeply flawed study was only specifically claiming it was the combined MMR and not all vaccines generically and produced his study in an attempt to sell a separate MMR series that could be spaced out (rather than being one shot with all three) which would allegedly prevent the effect, because he would directly profit from his vaccine series being used instead of the combined MMR.
Whether there is another cause that is common to both events is irrelevant to the example. The example is to demonstrate the fact that while A and B are correlated, neither A causes B nor B causes A are true predicates. Just like the discovery of Pluto and autism diagnosis are correlated to start around the same year, there's no evidence of the casual link where discovering Pluto causes autism diagnosis or autism diagnosis causes Pluto discovery.
Thousands of people suddenly start staring into the night sky, exhaustively cataloging everything they see, and writing long journal entries arguing over whether a vague flickering dot is a planet or not.
And you think Pluto caused Autism?
Some guys got so obsessed with reforming and polishing glass, that they used that to see the vague flickering dots even better.
But also, have you seen the night sky without light and sound pollution? How can someone not just stare at that every night and memorize it?
Getting really far out into the woods and seeing the Milky Way in all its glory is a transformative experience, without a doubt.
Maybe we have it backwards. Maybe the light pollution is what causes the Autism and we just got lucky with Pluto before the sky was closed up.
The thing with jokes like these and Birds Aren't Real and Russel's Teapot and stuff is just that we don't believe in them and the people that do believe in the vaccine cause autism BS is that they do fervently do.
I don't think I understand your point.
He's missing some punctuation, but the point is that the burden of proof ought to be on the people making the claim instead of as it commonly happens, that people state something wild and then spend their time arguing against the proofs against it. The secondary point is that people who do this are already blind to this, so they are basing their arguments on something that only they believe, and strongly believe without proof.
It makes discussion futile, because the people believing in random stuff are asking for evidence against something untrue that is based on something untrue which is based on something untrue. It's 2 or more steps away from logic.
I don't know if that made any more sense, so let's make an allegory with math.
Let's say a person wrongly believes that 2=3. This belief is unknown for anyone besides themselves. Based on this, they conclude that 2x3=4 and state that openly. So a sane person would argue that 2x3=6. The first person then claimss that 6 is wrong, and the second person will attempt to prove it logically. It does not matter how much proof the sane person provides of the 6 because the first person does not understand that from their belief. The 2=3 belief is never discussed, only the 6.
The result is that they will never agree.
The best way to counter this kind of stupidity is not by logical argumentation. It's better to simply ask "why?" until the wrong person argues themselves into a position of belief, which can then be countered by a final "why?" to which they have no answer and are forced to reevaluate their belief, and hopefully come to a better one, or at least start questioning that instead.
Pluto's original name was mRNA !!!
Are you suggesting that Pluto is inside of vaccines?!? Alert the media!!!
Is that why autistic people are trying to convince everyone that Pluto isn't a planet?
when i was a kid and we weren't paying attention, a saying was "is your mind lost in Pluto?"
Earth to Expatriadio
Smokers get cancer
Smokers carry pocket lighters
Therefore pocket lighters cause cancer
Grilled Cheese sandwiches cause Autism
Prove me wrong
That's easy... Pluto causes it. I mean that's why we are all here.
So, if I understand correctly, Pluto causes grilled cheese sandwiches?
No, Pluto causes us all being here.
Post hoc ergo proper hoc.
Speak English to me, doc! I ain't no scientist.
Lies, damn lies, statistics, and Pluto not being a planet.
Pluto isn't real wake up sheeple!!!
Nice try, but wasn't autism 'discovered' in 1933??? Big Pluto trying to get its planet status back over here. Psh
Um, actually, autism was termed in 1980s...
Finally we discover the cause of autism. We are coming for you Pluto, you wanna be planet.
We are coming for you Pluto
To throw it an appreciation party!!