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Old 04-20-2007, 09:47 PM
hmkpoker hmkpoker is offline
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Default Re: 20k foot view of school shooting

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Another thread about SSRIs was locked - is this in acceptable subject to talk about here?

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The locked thread was a little trollish. Also, whether a drug causes people to be homicidal isn't really a political topic. A more thoughtful post in SMP might be better.

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It is trollish, but it does illustrate a logical fallacy very, very well. People think that any A correlated with any B means that A causes B. However, it could also be that a cause X is causing both A and B, and that A and B have little or no causal relationship. For example, hard work and sound investing is likely to lead someone to an early, happy retirement and financial independence. It's also quite likely to lead someone to owning a gold watch. The correlation between rolex ownership and financial independence must be strong, but no one is going to become financially free owning a gold watch.

SSRI's don't cause homocidal mania. Depression does. And depression also makes SSRI consumption more likely, QED.
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