Philosophy – Page 101 – William M. Briggs

Pascal & Barzun On Scientism

Blaise Pascal was a man smarter than I and smarter than thou. He was a scientist, mathematician, probabilist, and was deeply, deeply Catholic. Pascal as scientist warned against trusting science…

Philosophy Statistics

Logical Probability Data Analysis, Measurement Error Example

Read the introduction to this first. If you don't, you will be lost, lost, lost. Logical probability answer to B The answer to B follows from A. The picture is…

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What Do Means Mean?

Update In order that it does not get lost over the weekend, part two of this post will run on Sunday. This is part one of a two part post,…

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The Alternative To P-Values

I apologize for the abruptness of the notation. It will be understandable only to a few. I don't like to use it without sufficient background because the risk of reification…

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Everything Wrong With P-Values Under One Roof

Update 8 January 2019. This post has been superseded! There is an official paper of this material, greatly expanded and vetted. SEE THIS NEW POST. THE NEW PAPER: Here is…

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On The Evidence From Experiments: Part IV

Read Part I, II, III. We are nearly at the point where we can say something about the candidate proposition of interest: "Treatment cures cancer of the albondigas." It is…

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On The Evidence From Experiments: Part III

Read Part I, Part II first. All other propositions are contingent. For example, it is not necessarily true that your treatment should be a cure for cancer of the albondigas…

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On The Evidence From Experiments: Part II

Read Part I first. Outcome 3. This sound like good news for you, since all treatment Bobs got better and no placebo Bobs did. Congratulations! The treatment might have caused…

spetzer86 on Changes Are Coming: Our Return to 1970sOctober 28, 2025
In college during the 70's, it would get cold enough to freeze the Iowa river that passed through the UofI…
Cary Cotterman on UFO Hits United Flight. All Survive. This Time!October 28, 2025
A couple of things I wonder about: What would happen if the object had hit, say, the center of the…
Richard Brimage on UFO Hits United Flight. All Survive. This Time!October 28, 2025
It appears to have been a sand filled ballast bag hanging from a weather balloon.
Phil R on Changes Are Coming: Our Return to 1970sOctober 28, 2025
A family vacation goes awry in a faraway village after the innocents realize the village was run by a cult…
Brian (bulaoren) on Changes Are Coming: Our Return to 1970sOctober 28, 2025
Back in the 1970s, a Chinese woman named Jiang Qing was married to a senile Chinese dictator named Mao Ze…