Search Results for “random chance”

Reader Question: Probability is not real in the sense that real life things are real

Anon writes: Mr. Briggs, I am trying to understand the statement in the title. It [probability] is a measure of uncertainty. It is a measure of what we know or…

Philosophy Statistics

Dear Quacks & Experts: Your Loss Function Is Not Our Loss Function

Note to the colleague who wrote me. I lost your email! You asked excellent questions about the post Classical Statistics Has Outlived Its Usefulness: Here’s The Fix, which I meant…

Philosophy Statistics

Classical Statistics Has Outlived Its Usefulness: Here’s The Fix

A PDF of this article may be downloaded here. This article is a precis of Uncertainty. Opening Act Patient walks into the doctor and says, "Doc, I saw that new…

Philosophy

Sphere Eversion, Free Will & Infinite Powers

Can a sphere be turned inside out, such that the outside becomes the inside, and vice versa, without creasing or tearing or poking a hole in the sphere? Obviously not.…

Philosophy Statistics

Uncertainty Discussed At Vox Popoli

Vox Day kindly reprinted the review of Uncertainty by Jayne at the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Vox also has a copy of the book himself and there may…

Philosophy

Real Philosophy Is Science — Guest Post by Old David

Editor's note: Old David, a.k.a. David Marwick from Australia, is familiar from the comment pages, and I thought it would be fun if he were on the receiving end of…

Culture Philosophy

Do I Exist?(Does Russia) Part II — Guest Post by Ianto Watt

Read Part I here. So God has already acted. There is no potentiality left in Him, as Aquinas would say. After all, He's already done everything. There's nothing left to…

Philosophy Statistics

Randomness And The “Null” Hypothesis

Last week of teaching! Randomness is not a cause. Neither is chance. It is always a mistake to say things like "explainable by chance", "random change", "the differences are random",…

Briggs on Jung’s Synchronicity & CoincidenceJuly 17, 2025
Scott, One of my hobbies is mentalism, mental magic---I even performed a trick on a Vegas stage! I have lots…
James on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 16, 2025
The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis might be worthy of exploring for bad science: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis
Scott Locklin on Jung’s Synchronicity & CoincidenceJuly 16, 2025
There was a book on the correspondence between Jung and Wolfgang Pauli (who was a genius, but also an alcoholic…
Ralph Mertesdorf on Vegetarians Crave Power And Success More Than Meat Eaters Do, Study FindsJuly 16, 2025
I found another headline at that "Study Finds" site" "Many Texas Communities Are Dangerously Unprepared For Floods, And Lack Of…
Tars Tarkas on Vegetarians Crave Power And Success More Than Meat Eaters Do, Study FindsJuly 16, 2025
"39. She always wants to be the one who makes the decisions. She likes to be the leader." This is…