Cats Reject the Roomba
iRobot (Roomba) Revenue vs Pet Cats in United States
As Roomba revenue climbed, the US pet cat population actually fell. Cats did not sign up for this mechanical indignity. Every new Roomba is one cat fewer willing to tolerate humanity.
“Felines have declared cold war on robotic vacuums. The roomba-cat displacement rate is a leading economic indicator.”
— Dr. Whisker Protest, Feline Sociologist
Real correlation, fake causation
To turn this r ≈ 66% (negative) relationship between iRobot (Roomba) Revenue and Pet Cats in United States into an actual scientific finding, you would need a plausible mechanism, controlled experiments, and replication across independent datasets. We have none of those. We have a chart that slopes the wrong way at the right speed.
That is the whole game of spurious correlations: the math is fine, the meaning is missing. Two lines can rise together because the population grew, because both phenomena are downstream of the same cultural shift, or because the universe has a sense of humor. Picking the comedic interpretation is the only honest move.
Quote attributed to Dr. Whisker Protest, Feline Sociologist is fictional and intended for entertainment.
Put it on a thing
This correlation belongs on a wall, a mug, or a t-shirt. Pick your poison:
Share the nonsense
Generate your own
Download the Stupid Correlations app to discover thousands of absurd correlations on demand.
