William M. Briggs

Mathematical Association of America Reviews Uncertainty: The Soul of Modeling, Probability & Statistics

William J. Satzer at the Mathematical Association of America reviewed Uncertainty: The Soul of Modeling, Probability & Statistics. Here it is (ellipsis below original). This is a book about probability…

Fun

Merry Federally Recognized Holiday of 2016!

Culture

“Media Powerhouses Don’t Quite Get Religion.”

Some fellow named Dean Baquet, New York Times Executive Editor, was holding forth about the election on your tax-dollar-supported NPR (Slogan: You have to pay, but you have no say),…

Statistics

Stream: Who’s Better At Playing Doctor, Boys Or Girls?

Stream: Who's Better At Playing Doctor, Boys Or Girls? The NBC News story "Female Doctors Outperform Male Doctors, According to Study" makes these bold claims. Patients treated by women are…

Statistics

Pascal’s Mugging Is Silly: Events Don’t “Have” Probabilities

Before we begin, see this similar article about a different mugging scenario, which demonstrated that all probability is conditional and that decision isn't probability. Here's the serious version of Pascal's…

Culture

Russia As Salvation Of The West: Part I — Guest Post by Ianto Watt

If you please, I shall be bold. Bold enough to utter the word. The word that describes Russia in a nutshell. The one word. Because that one word is what…

Fun Statistics

Statistician to the Stars For Hire!

Herein our semi-annual reminder that the purpose of this blog is mercenary. Filthy lucre is both impetus and goal of its daily readings. Moola, the spondulicks, the government's glory, the…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: The Intellect Is Not A Temperament

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…

shawn marshall on Iran Has Caught Covid: A Reason For The WarApril 6, 2026
I do pray that the Iranians will be freed from the Mullahs who I do believe want to fashion a…
Johnno on Belgian Judge Wants To Arrest Little Nate Cofnast Because Cofnast Says Smart People Are Smarter Than Dumb PeopleApril 2, 2026
Has this Pierre perhaps considered that it is the light of Belgian criminal law and more specifically the anti-racism law…
Johnno on There Is No Solution To Crashing Fertility: Good Times Made Soft MenApril 2, 2026
God already foresaw all this. He warned us so in 1916 and provided a solution since 1929, in the run…
JH on There Is No Solution To Crashing Fertility: Good Times Made Soft MenApril 1, 2026
Promoting greater equality at home can be a solution, in addition to offering incentives to involve grandparents, as Frick suggests…
Uncle Mike on There Is No Solution To Crashing Fertility: Good Times Made Soft MenApril 1, 2026
I feel the same way. Tilting at windmills while the sun sets. Impossible dream, unbeatable foe, marching into hell for…

William M. Briggs

Iran Has Caught Covid: A Reason For The War

Class 84: Most Important Measure of Model Goodness

There Is No Solution To Crashing Fertility: Good Times Made Soft Men

Did The Pope Really Say Health Is A “Right”?

All Models Only Say What They Are Told To Say, And AI Is A Model

It’s The End Of The World Again

Belgian Judge Wants To Arrest Little Nate Cofnast Because Cofnast Says Smart People Are Smarter Than Dumb People

Class 83: Why Were Paul Ehrlich’s Predictions So Good (and so Bad)?

The Great Effeminization of the Academy

The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s Folly

Lancet Discovers Public Health Is Politics

Class 82: Be More Uncertain (About Models)

On Not Reading

The Great Smoothing: Another Reason Not To Fear (or trust) AI

A Synchronicity Or Coincidence? What Is Behind Curious Events?

Class 81: The Second Biggest Error In Time Series

The Paper Test Shows Why AGI Is Not Possible: And Why The Brain Is Different In Kind

Researcher Imagines Weather With No Human Influence: Concludes Climate Change Hurts Incomes

Faith Deposited: Why Godless Science Fails

Class 80: Granger Causality; Per Se & Accidental Time Series; Stationarity

Scientists Seeking To Escape Criticism Run To The Warmth & Comfort Of Bluesky