A Quote by Stephen Jay Gould

The invalid assumption that correlation implies cause is probably among the two or three most serious and common errors of human reasoning.

Stephen Jay Gould

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Among Assumption Cause Common Correlation Errors Human Human Reason Implies Invalid Most Reasoning Serious Three Two

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Stephen Jay Gould
American - Scientist
September 10, 1941 - May 20, 2002

Progress is the exploration of our own error. Evolution is a consolidation of what have always begun as errors. And errors are of two kinds: errors that turn out to be true and errors that turn out to be false (which are most of them). But they both have the same character of being an imaginative speculation. I say all this because I want very much to talk about the human side of discovery and progress, and it seems to me terribly important to say this in an age in which most non-scientists are feeling a kind of loss of nerve.

Jacob Bronowski

Among environmentalists sharing two or three beers, the notion is quite common that if only some calamity could wipe out the entire human race, other species might once again have a chance.

Richard Conniff

The systematic experimental study of reproducible errors of human reasoning, and what these errors reveal about underlying mental processes, is known as the heuristics and biases program in cognitive psychology. This program has made discoveries highly relevant to assessors of global catastrophic risks.

Eliezer Yudkowsky

Childhood depression tends to be more common in inner cities, being most frequently related to serious social deprivation, bullying, domestic violence, wartime experience and famine. It is, for example, a serious problem among children who are traumatised refugees.

Robert Winston

...the most common cause of death among alpha males was ego.

Nelson DeMille

One of the most serious errors, if not the most serious error, committed by colonial powers in Africa, may have been to ignore or underestimate the cultural strength of African peoples.

Amilcar Cabral

The doctrines & miracles of our Saviour have required nearly two thousand years to convert but a small part of the human race, & even among Christian nations, what gross errors still exist!

Robert E. Lee

My impression is that a sense of rhythm, which has no analog in language, is unique and that its correlation with movement is unique to human beings. Why else would children start to dance when they're two or three? Chimpanzees don't dance.

Oliver Sacks

Common sense is, of all kinds, the most uncommon. It implies good judgment, sound discretion, and true and practical wisdom applied to common life.

Tryon Edwards

The most part of men, though they have the use of reasoning a little way, as in numbering to some degree; yet it serves them to little use in common life; in which they govern themselves, some better, some worse, according to their differences of experience, quickness of memory, and inclinations to several ends; but specially according to good or evil fortune, and the errors of one another.

Thomas Hobbes

My assumption was that all indigenous architecture would be more fractal. My reasoning was that all indigenous architecture tends to be organized from the bottom up. As it turns out, though, my reasoning was wrong.

Ron Eglash

The basic problem affecting the Pakistan today is human rights. Islamic fundamentalists have no roots among the common people and while they are pushing hard for religious fundamentalists to take hold, the common people still seek change through humanitarian and common human rights law.

Abdul Sattar Edhi

The kinds of errors that cause plane crashes are invariably errors of teamwork and communication.

Malcolm Gladwell

There's what I'll call best practices and then there's reality. Based on our research over the past two to three years, there are significant differences in performance results that companies are experiencing with their security programs. There are some common things that are done very well among the best-class enterprises suffering the least amount of breaches and damages. But even having said that, there's probably no way to defeat a serious security threat today and it wouldn't matter what the tool is. The only way to do that would be to unplug the computers.

Jim Hurley

It's long been common practice among many to draw a distinction between "human rights" and "property rights," suggesting that the two are separate and unequal - with "property rights" second to "human rights."

Richard M. Nixon

The chief cause of human errors is to be found in the prejudices picked up in childhood.

Rene Descartes

A Quote by Stephen Jay Gould

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