“Correlation does not imply causation”. That statement grates on my nerves, like nails on a chalkboard. While containing a kernel of truth, it does not stand alone. The rest of the concept that balances out that statement is what we all know but seldom consciously consider: there is no causation without correlation.
We humans are storytellers. It is a skill, not an idle pastime. At the end of our day’s work and struggles, as the darkness closed in on us and nudged us to all sit around the fire, we problem solved through the stories we told. And while the strictest tenets of the scientific method are not applied in the storytelling process, we still use that skill to make sense of the world and solve problems.
So in the last few years, those at the top of the pyramids of power in our society have verbally (and sometimes physically) beaten us into submission as we tell our stories to make sense of our complicated world. When those stories don’t comport with the “trust the science” crowd, the tellers are adorned with tin foil hats or sent to the corner to wear the dunce cap of shame. I was recently sent to the corner, when Medium.com decided that the story I was telling (my previous blog post) was too dangerous, or maybe too stupid, to be heard by those around their campfire. Fortunately for me, the dunce cap wouldn’t fit because others had already crowned me with my tinfoil hat.
Back to causes and correlates – well told stories give us connections. I tell you about how I experienced B after I was exposed to A. When you hear 10 or 20 or 500 other people tell you a similar story, at some point, you start to consider that those correlations might just have some causation attached. What do you do with that information? If you are concerned about experiencing B, then it might be worth your time to avoid exposure to A. Or you could ignore those silly stories and wait for Scientists to study the hell out of the situation. It is your choice. I exhort you use your brain properly. Others don’t make decisions for you. They only provide you with stories. Even conclusions reached using highest levels of evidence, produced by the most revered experts, are still stories. They are models that we build to try and better understand the real world that we live in.
Your brain is inference machine. It is designed gather bits and pieces of experience, your own and those of others, to draw conclusions. Those conclusions are mental models, educated guesses, about how the real world works. The only way to know if your model is accurate is to step out into the real world and test it. As long as you allow others (the experts) to do the testing, you are working off of someone else’s educated guess. You are the one who hones your own skills of model building and sense making.
It matters to understand causes in order to achieve the outcomes you want. But you always start with the stories that give you connections, correlations. In our complex and complicated world, I think it is vitally important to keep the circle around your fire open and listen to as many different storytellers as you can, especially the ones wearing those funny looking hats.
I love it.
And strongly agree.
Correlation doesn't always equal causation.
But it's a pretty strong indicator.
How did we get to this stage in our evolution?
Where did the common sense go?
A collection of recent findings worth paying closer attention to.
1) The role of mitochondrial dysfunction in Long COVID.
https://www.genengnews.com/topics/infectious-diseases/long-covid-linked-to-mitochondrial-damage-in-multiple-organs/
“Now, a multi-institutional consortium of researchers led by a team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the COVID-19 International Research Team (COV-IRT) points to the mitochondria, with findings suggesting that the genes of the mitochondria can be negatively impacted by the virus, leading to dysfunction in multiple organs beyond the lungs.”
2) Long vax and it's similarities to long COVID and ME/CFS
https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2023/08/01/long-vax-coronavirus-vaccine-injury-inroads-medical-community/
“For decades, some people in the ME/CFS community have been reporting that a vaccine triggered their condition – yet little work has been done – and the scientific community has been skeptical. Except for the HPV vaccination syndrome, the question of whether vaccines can trigger diseases like ME/CFS, POTS and fibromyalgia has been virtually ignored.”
3) The common link, Spike protein and it's ability to disrupt mitochondrial gene expression
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221287782300090X
“Our data demonstrated that the Spike protein could induce long-term transcriptional suppression of mitochondria metabolic genes and cause cardiac fibrosis and myocardial contractile impairment in obese mice, providing mechanistic insights to PASC-related cardiomyopathy”
4) Mitochondria and their other functions
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320875
“Mitochondria are often referred to as the powerhouses of the cell. Their main function is to generate the energy necessary to power cells. But, there is more to mitochondria than energy production”
Connect the dots if you can.