Philosophy – Page 3 – William M. Briggs

Our Base Metaphors & Analogies Used In Science Have Outlived Their Usefulness: Part I

Metaphors and analogies exhaust themselves. No matter how useful they are as guides to thought, pushed too far they can loosen our grip on Reality or lead to stagnation, and…

Philosophy Statistics

How Not To Think Like A Bayesian Rationalist

Lisping Rationalists When I read people like Eliezer Yudkowsky and Scott Alexander it becomes clear to me how the French could have built a Temple of Reason during The Terror.…

Philosophy

How Failing To Butcher Your Child Became “Child Abuse”

Three females, which I believe is significant, took to the pages of the journal Pediatrics and argued that failing to have a surgeon mutilate your child (for a large fee)…

Philosophy Statistics

The Frequency Interpretation Of Probability Is False: Some Reasons Contra von Mises

What is the chance that "Donald Trump wins the 2024 Presidential election"? Impossible to say, says Richard von Mises, because the event is singular and must be embedded in an…

Fun Philosophy

A Christmas Carol Revisited — Guest Post by Richard Law

Richard Law is a retired web engineer and writer living in Switzerland. 'Tis the season for Charles Dickens' (1812-1870) deservedly popular tale of the time-travels of Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas…

Philosophy

Doom For The Doomsday Argument

Heard of the Doomsday Argument, sometimes also called the Carter Catastrophe? It claims to be able to name the date, with a certain confidence, at which mankind dies off. It…

Philosophy

What Makes A Casino Gamble Different Than Making A Decision Under Uncertainty?

We continue with our week of pleasant Thanksgiving topics. A cop in the police procedural Hell Is A City (start around 54 minutes) discerned one of the bad guys he…

Culture Philosophy

Sex With Dogs & Other Critters Back In Vogue, Thanks To Academic Peter Singer

Very long time readers will know that we warned that the creation of the notion of "sexual orientation", and the criminalizing of "discrimination" against "sexual orientations", logically implied that all…

Paul Fischer on Class 77: Trendy Trends In Time SeriesJanuary 30, 2026
Great lecture, William. Took a year of time series in grad school...all math, zero discussion of how fragile “trends” really…
Martin on Fatima, Russia & You, Part IV — Guest Post by Ianto WattJanuary 30, 2026
Brilliant. Thank you.
spetzer86 on Class 77: Trendy Trends In Time SeriesJanuary 29, 2026
You also need to consider the amount of trust in the data over time. If you have any reason to…
spetzer86 on Who Still Listens To AM Radio?January 29, 2026
Over 60, used to listen to AM all the time as a kid. Mostly WHO and other Des Moines stations.…
Steve on Who Still Listens To AM Radio?January 29, 2026
Yep. Flyover, so during the daytime, there was only local dreck, but nighttime, KFYR (Bismark), KOMA (Oklahoma City), WLW (Cinncinnati,…