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This subject must be in the air. This article came out, I just blogged on the same general topic (http://www.whattofix.com/blog/archives/2011/12/management-by...), and just a minute ago I got through reading another article on cognitive bias. http://www.american.com/archive/2011/december/the-political-...

It's a great topic, especially for businesses and startups. I think the problem is much, much deeper than correlation != causation. The basic problem is that we don't understand how to deal with statistics, especially aggregate numbers. This is a funny way to make a point, but the problem is waaaay deeper than just confusion about correlation. The errors in scientific studies, for instance, are just one example of the harm caused by these kinds of cognitive blind spots. (I say blind spot instead of lack of math education because I don't believe the root problem is a lack of understanding math. In my opinion, something else is going on.)




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