[meteorite-list] Inferring meaning where there is none by geologists

[Paul]

Perceived connections: Inferring meaning where there is none
https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/Dec-2018/Feature-3

Meaningless data are tough words to swallow. John Armitage and
Tom Coulthard argue that Earth scientists must face up to the fact
that some observations might be an aggregation of seemingly
random events, where there is no cause and effect.

Papers

Armitage, J. & Coulthard, T., Perceived connections: Inferring
meaning where there is none. Geoscientist 28 (11), 18-21, 2018
https://doi.org/10.1144/geosci2018-030
https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/~/media/shared/documents/Geoscientist/2018/December%202018/F3_Dec%202018.pdf?la=en

Falk, R. and Konold, C., 1997. Making sense of randomness: Implicit
encoding as a basis for judgment. Psychological Review, 104(2), p.301-318
https://www.srri.umass.edu/publications/falk-1997msr/
https://www.srri.umass.edu/sites/srri/files/FalkKonold1997/index.pdf

A related editorial well worth finding and reading is:

Wright, V.P., 2019. Memes, False News, and the Death of Empiricism.
Journal of Sedimentary Research, 89(4), pp.310-311.
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/jsedres/article-abstract/89/4/310/570050

Yours,

Paul H.