Observational data doesn’t allow one to distinguish correlation and causation.
No? If I observe a hammer striking a nail and the nail sinking into the wooden plank, is anyone going to argue that it’s mere correlation and not causation?
Observational data doesn’t always allow one one to distinguish correlation and causation.
I am also a bit confused since you’re talking about learning values but your example is not about values but about a causal relationship.
Indeed.
Pearl’s “Causality” talks at length about this sort of things, and what data can and cannot distinguish between causal correlation. There’s even a Sequence post about this exact topic.
No? If I observe a hammer striking a nail and the nail sinking into the wooden plank, is anyone going to argue that it’s mere correlation and not causation?
Observational data doesn’t always allow one one to distinguish correlation and causation.
I am also a bit confused since you’re talking about learning values but your example is not about values but about a causal relationship.
Indeed. Pearl’s “Causality” talks at length about this sort of things, and what data can and cannot distinguish between causal correlation. There’s even a Sequence post about this exact topic.