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For many assertions, my quick filter is: what the _direct_ experimental design would look like to draw such conclusions? Is it possible that it is done somewher
by nacc 10y ago
For many assertions, my quick filter is: what the _direct_ experimental design would look like to draw such conclusions? Is it possible that it is done somewhere?
Biology is so complex and we know so little about it, so that the normal logic often fails on it: if A -> B, B -> C, you need to do experiments to show A -> C. Error accumulates, other unknowns come in.
If you have to draw conclusion by logic in biology, look at the errorbars and sample size. Then stretch the errorbars by the square root of the sample size. Then stretch it again 3 times. If the conclusion still look obvious to you, proceed with caution.
- wfunction 10y agoI know zilch about biology or medicine but my impression is that in biology even A->B doesn't imply A->B half the time. Like you might do a large study and find that people get obese after consuming fat, only to later find that if you do the same with a different group of people, that doesn't happen. (Exaggerating with an example here, not actually claiming this particular example is true. Just trying to illustrate my impression of what a lot of things in the field are like.)
- noobermin 10y agothat's essentially what he said.