A small one in terms of words, but lots of thought has gone into this addition:
Correlation proves compatibility.
Negative correlation implies incompatibility.
As Ned Ryerson would ask, “Am I right or am I right?”
Tags: causality, compatibility, correlation, epistomology, Groundhog Day, statsistics
Why doesn’t negative correlation PROVE incompatibility??
Uh, Matt, what is compatibility?
You can see the pdf file-
http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~spage/signals.pdf
for answer the question
Why doesn’t negative correlation PROVE incompatibility??
@Alexis
By “compatibility” I mean that the presence of X doesn’t preclude Y from occurring.
I’ve been thinking about this in particular with regards to economics, where controlled experiments are often problematic on a micro level, and impossible at the macro level. For example, the strong, broad correlation between economic freedom and prosperity proves that capitalism is compatible with increased material welfare. Conversely, the negative correlation between “command and control” societies and material welfare implies that the two are incompatible, but doesn’t provide definitive proof, anymore than our failure to observe beautiful sparkly immortals amongst us proves the non-existence of Twilight-style vampires.