When it comes to statistics and number crunching, the mathematician’s maxim is that ‘correlation does not mean causation’. But, come on, isn’t it at least plausible that as American spending pushed our species ever higher into space, destiny decided that had to coincide with gravity pulling more of us to our deaths?
Those are the existential kind of thoughts you'll find yourself thinking if you spend any time on the ingenious website Spurious Correlation.
The blog tracks the most bizarrely similar line graphs of entirely random statistics, and is the painstaking work of Tyler Vigen, a law student at Harvard University and self-identifying "science and discovery lover."
Tyler says his website is designed to change the way you look at statistics:
Empirical research is interesting, and I love to wonder about how variables work together. The charts on this site aren't meant to imply causation nor are they meant to create a distrust for research or even correlative data. Rather, I hope this project fosters interest in statistics and numerical research.
All of his sources are referenced, and some of the discoveries Spurious Correlation has mapped beggar belief. Things like...
Cheese consumption and golf course revenue
(GIF: Reddit)
Marriage rates and murder by blunt objects
(GIF: Tumblr)
Nicolas Cage movies and drowning in swimming pools
(GIF: Tumblr)
The cost of crisps and wheelchair fatalities
(GIF: Tumblr)
How death by bedsheets relates to skiing revenue
(GIF: Reddit)
You can read the many other bizarre correlations here, and clear some time to ponder the baffling coincidences.
