William M. Briggs

Muggings, Nuclear Devices, Probability & Decision

Somehow I ended up on the curious site LessWrong.com, directed by somebody with the nickname Yud (from Eliezer Yudkowsky). Odd isn't in it. Investigating it led me to Reddit and…

Culture

Eastern Michigan To Install Zampolit In Every Classroom To Maintain Ideological Purity

Maintaining ideological purity requires constant vigilance. The Commissars in the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics knew this well. This is why they assigned zampolit, or political officers, to serve…

Statistics

Don’t Use Statistical Models (When You Don’t Have To. Which Is Nearly Always)

Today, a convincing argument proving the current practice of probability and statistics is mostly wrong, or wrong-headed. The picture above does---and does not---show herbicide use in several countries by year…

Culture Statistics

Science Asks: Why Are Angry Atheists Annoying?

What's more annoying than an atheist who harangues passersby about "rationality"? Easy answer: a scientist who announces a discovery about human behavior that was known by everybody since Adam. Our…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: More On The Possible Intellect

See the first post in this series for an explanation and guide of our tour of Summa Contra Gentiles. All posts are under the category SAMT. Previous post. We're still…

Philosophy

Vatican Analyzes The Difference Between Humans And Robots

Soon a robot will ask you if you want fries with that. Computer screens already do, in some locales. How does that make you feel? Hungry? That could be taken…

Statistics

Scientific People Understand Reality Less, New Research Didn’t Study

Headline: Religious people understand the world less, study suggests, which derives from the peer-reviewed paper "Does Poor Understanding of Physical World Predict Religious and Paranormal Beliefs?" in Applied Cognitive Psychology…

Culture

Seventy-Five Years After Pearl Harbor

Holy moly. Shinzo Abe is going to visit Pearl Harbor "on Dec. 26-27 to pray for the dead". Who saw that coming? According to the linked report: "We must never…

Briggs on Class 65: A Last Plea Never To Use Or Trust Statistical Evidence Like ThisSeptember 20, 2025
Glenn, Clearly my enemies, responsible for all typos, are on the Student's side.
JRob on Class 65: A Last Plea Never To Use Or Trust Statistical Evidence Like ThisSeptember 19, 2025
The spurious correlation example is the best proof that p values can't be used. That's what you have to hammer…
Glenn Ammons on Class 65: A Last Plea Never To Use Or Trust Statistical Evidence Like ThisSeptember 19, 2025
Thanks, this is a very understandable summary of your arguments against p-values and frequentism. There is a mistake in the…
J. Johnson on Class 65: A Last Plea Never To Use Or Trust Statistical Evidence Like ThisSeptember 18, 2025
Well you convinced me to never use p-values, and how to articulate to others why they shouldn’t either. I’d say…
Ed on Class 65: A Last Plea Never To Use Or Trust Statistical Evidence Like ThisSeptember 18, 2025
As a teacher who's seen, in the eyes of many a student (pun intended), the inglorious mist of complete misunderstanding,…

William M. Briggs

Class 65: A Last Plea Never To Use Or Trust Statistical Evidence Like This

Lacent’s Vaccination Model Says What Its Told To Say

Chinese Scientists Pull Off Hilarious “Climate Change” Troll?

On The Myths Of Scientism

Use The Tools The Left Created Against Them

The Various Solutions To Black Crime Analyzed

The False Expectation Of Permanence

Astonishing Climate Change Predictions!

Class 64: No Confidence (Interval) In Parameters

What Are The Chances 6 AfD Candidates Die Before An Election?

Funniest Thing To Happen In Science In Years

Pray For The Downfall, Ruin, Confusion & Conversion Of The Doctors & Experts Causing Transanity

Class 63: My Correlation Is Causation Because My P Is Wee

The Right & Wrong Way To Do (Electromagnetic) Science: Interview With Hans G. Schantz

World Ends In 25 years! Towns Become Slaughterhouses! Peter Thiel Disguises Self As Sheep!

Deniers Refusing To Die From Climate Change Heat Waves

Class 62: Die P-value, Die! Die! Die!

Research: Solar Activity Causes High Blood Pressure

The Key Role Of Probability & Chance In Science

On The Cult Of The Victim & Why We Must Reject It

Class 61: Does This Guy Have ESP? II