system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If correlation does not imply causation, what does imply causation?

Presumably since correlation is ruled out, there are other techniques to prove causation. How is causation determined?
gpt
I've never been a fan of that particular quip.  It is true, but misleading when misapplied.  Better to say correlation does not *prove* causation.

Correlation *is* evidence for causation...but not conclusive evidence.  It is a necessary but insufficient condition.

So what does conclusively imply causation?  Well, nothing, really.  You can only have a statistical degree of certainty one action causes another, never complete certainty.  The exact nature of causation is a philosophical can of worms.

Then, what is evidence for causation?

* correlation (whenever A happens, B happens)
* chronology (A happens before B happens)
* mechanism (A influences B)
* exclusion (systematic disproof of C, D and E making B happen)
* prediction (assuming A causes B leads to the most accuate predictions)