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owlthatissuperb OP t1_iywo5op wrote

Reply to comment by ribnag in Causal Explanations Considered Harmful: On the logical fallacy of causal projection by owlthatissuperb

So, I made up the term "causal projection" for this piece. I did look around for previous uses, but couldn't find any consistent usage that implied it was a term of art. Is there a technical definition that I'm missing?

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ribnag t1_iywpp4b wrote

Your link defines it as iteratively converting a DCG to a DAG by removing the lowest-weighted connections until only forward paths exist between the hypothetical cause and the target effect, thereby establishing "causality".

In one sense that's entirely defensible, but the fundamental flaw is that you can do the same between almost any nodes in the graph (as long as a cycle exists between them - You can't e.g. prove JFK's assassination caused the Big Bang because there's no loop that can ever go back to that point).

/ Edit: My apologies, I misunderstood that you're the actual author of TFA. But you're still right!

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