Egg First, Chicken Next. Right?

Causing effect or effecting cause?

Photo by Nadir sYzYgY on Unsplash

The one thing most people on the planet agree on is that time flows in one direction.

We do something and a short while later (anywhere between nanoseconds to millennia), something else happens.

We cause an effect.

But when analysing effects, are we sure we understand the cause? Do we attribute something as the effect of a cause when it’s actually the cause of an effect?

Confused? Try these:

• He’s stupid because he believes in fairytales. Or he believes in fairytales because he’s stupid?
• Do fat people eat more or are they fat because they eat more?
• The poor spend a lot of money on lottery tickets. Or are they poor because they spend a lot of money on lottery tickets?
• Do people vote for a popular politician or do politicians win because they are popular?
• Do big stars make a movie successful or do successful movies have big stars?
• We love each other so we must spend our lives together. Or do we spend our lives together because we love each other?

We are excellent at jumping to conclusions first and generating evidence later. No wonder I tie myself up in knots when it comes to separating cause and effect.

We make value judgements constantly. But sometimes it’s worth considering if we understand the direction of causality before making up our minds.

Because there’s a good chance we don’t.