Steven D'Aprano wrote: > On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 18:02:14 -0400, Sherm Pendley wrote: > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > >> I wonder if his postings are related to the phases of the moon? It > >> might explain a lot. > > > > Yes, it would. Note that the word lunatic is derived from the Latin word > > luna, meaning moon. > > Yes, lunatic is derived from luna, but that doesn't mean the two are > connected. The ancients believed a lot of crap (the world is flat, black > people aren't human, thunder is the sound of god's fighting, buying > over-valued dot-com stock is a good investment) and "phases of the moon > affecting behaviour" was one of them. > > People are really bad at connecting cause and effect. See this thread for > a simple example: > > http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=42;t=000228;p=1 > > A skeptical policeman who says he doesn't actually believe the moon > affects behaviour nevertheless reports that "last weekend" things were > really crazy, and it was a full moon. Somebody writes in to correct him: > no, the full moon is actually "tomorrow". > > This shows how cognitive biases can fool us. Even though he was skeptical, > the cop noticed the extra crazy behaviour on this particular weekend, and > manged to fool himself into thinking it matched a full moon. > > See here for more details, plus references to research: > > http://skepdic.com/fullmoon.html
But correlations can exist even if the cause does not. There is a correlation between the equinox and balancing an egg. But not _because_ of the equinox, but because people only try it on the equinox. Hence, egg balancing only happens on the equinox is a true assertion. > > > -- > Steven. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
