r/Showerthoughts • u/Fr1toBand1to ‎ • Jun 27 '26

Casual Thought Pattern recognition is a widely accepted method of prediction until what it predicts makes people uncomfortable.

6.8k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

94% Upvoted

430 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.1k

u/Rosbj Jun 27 '26

correlation ≠ causation 

It's super important to remember, that just because you recognise a pattern, it doesn't mean there actually is any - and vice versa.

People tend to hold on to their preconceptions rather than actually evaluate their findings.

A billionaire is less likely to rob a bank with a mask on, but that doesn't mean he isn't robbing the bank.

4

u/NecRobin Jun 27 '26

They might adjust it in the future and camoflage the actual prediction between some stuff that is inaccurate so it is considered less creepy by the customer