Statistics – Page 153 – William M. Briggs

Headline: We Used Terrible Science to Justify Smoking Bans. Amen: We Did

When they used to tell me I would shorten my life ten years by smoking, they little knew the devotee they were wasting their puerile word upon---they little knew how…

Philosophy Statistics

Induction & Essence

Suppose we observe a raven. It's black. We see a second, also black. And so on for a few dozen more. We reason, or rather we argue with ourselves, "Since…

Philosophy Statistics

The Big Bang, Eternal Inflation & Many Worlds

We're back to our Edge series of ideas scientists wish more people knew about. Today is John C. Mather and the Big Bang. Mather isn't pleased with popular conceptions. What…

Statistics

Stream: NOAA Whistleblower Claims Data Were ‘Adjusted’ to Make Global Warming Seem Worse

Stream: NOAA Whistleblower Claims Data Were 'Adjusted' to Make Global Warming Seem Worse: Climatology, Not The Planet, Is Running A Fever. A scientist-whistleblower has accused the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric…

Statistics

The Consensus That Wasn’t: Less Than 1%, Not 97%

If I hear that "97% of scientists agree..." nonsense number just one more time---why, I'll laugh. And why not? It is comedy in its best democratic form. That screwy figure…

Statistics

Big Data, Big Predictions — Big Deal!

The title, you'll be shocked to learn, is sarcastic. You'll forgive the tone after reading NBC's article "Big Data's Big Misses: 2016 Was a Bad Year For Predictions", which opens…

Culture Statistics

The Vatican’s Biological Extinction Conference

It's old news now that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences has invited the death loving and appalling and serially wrong Paul Ehrlich to its conference on Biological Extinction. LifeSite reports:…

Philosophy Statistics

On The Demon Possessed Doll & Little Girl

You might have seen the video of the little girl playing near a doll, a doll which twitches its head without visible promoting. The video switches views and sees the…

Rhetocrates on The Paper Test Shows Why AGI Is Not Possible: And Why The Brain Is Different In KindMarch 4, 2026
I disagree with the conclusion of the test. There is no need for panic or concern over the possibility of…
C-Marie on The Paper Test Shows Why AGI Is Not Possible: And Why The Brain Is Different In KindMarch 4, 2026
God is!!! Well done, Matt!! Loved this! Great explanations .... even understood much of it at 82 years!!! Am sending…
CorkyAgain on The Paper Test Shows Why AGI Is Not Possible: And Why The Brain Is Different In KindMarch 4, 2026
I rather like Sheldrake's idea that brains are more like radio receivers which resonate with or tune into signals from…
Cary D Cotterman on The Paper Test Shows Why AGI Is Not Possible: And Why The Brain Is Different In KindMarch 4, 2026
I give up. I admit: I don't know anything. It's overwhelming.
Gwyneth on The Paper Test Shows Why AGI Is Not Possible: And Why The Brain Is Different In KindMarch 4, 2026
I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by scientific reductionism, with its claim in promissory materialism to account…