William M. Briggs

On The Foreseeable Rise Of ‘White Supremacists’

Two stories with one central theme today, the second one being of more import. Headline one: "Debates Over Buildings Honoring White Supremacists Grow". Research shows that many past personages were…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

Why Is Economics Plagued By Math?

The answer is easy: because math is numbers and numbers are measurement and measurements are necessary to make a subject "scientific" in the modern sense of that word. Why should…

Culture

Stream: Doctors Killing Patients And Harvesting Their Organs

Today's post is at The Stream: When Doctors Kill Patients to Harvest Their Organs. "How's your headache, Mr Jones?" "Gettin' worse, doc. Had it off and on all week." "That's…

Culture

This Week In Doom — WMBriggs Podcast 18 May 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-4itd-EsC8 Joseph Umstatt A look back at the past week in the worst that was in aural form, featuring the music of Joseph Umstatt, Antonio Vivaldi, Nicola Fiorenza, and Luigi…

Book review Statistics

Book Update — Uncertainty & Breaking The Law Of Averages

I'll have the page proofs for Uncertainty mid week and I've until 10 June to turn them back in. (I begin teaching on the 13th.) This puts publication in early…

Philosophy Statistics

Quantum Mechanics, Potentiality, Ontology, Epistemology, & Probability

What is and what is known about what is are two concepts which are often entangled, especially in quantum mechanics (puns intentional). This is one of the subjects which I…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: Failed Arguments For The Eternity Of The World I

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. I'm departing…

Fun

Think You Can Simulate A Brain? Think Again

Since is Silly Saturday, a few fun back-of-the-envelope calculations on simulating a brain. I'm drawing from the marvelous, must-read (go do it now) essay "The empty brain: Your brain does…

hudbwu on Math Is Epistemic Violence, Says Lady AcademicJune 20, 2026
We they're certainly re-inventing. Promises kept, I guess. Also, I can't escape thinking this is what the mice and rats…
hudbwu on The Ultimate IQ Test: Guessing the Author’s Mind and Escaping the Infinity of AnswersJune 20, 2026
ObvIOusLy, the correct formula for the triangles at the start is (upper_left + upper_right) * upper_left , which gives us…
Andras Kuthi on Truly Random Numbers Found?June 19, 2026
Contemplate that Epstein won the New Mexico lottery...so much for randomly generated numbers.
Rich on Math Is Epistemic Violence, Says Lady AcademicJune 18, 2026
Perhaps she and her friends would accept being paid according to the indigenous mathematics of crows who can, apparently, count…
Cary D Cotterman on Math Is Epistemic Violence, Says Lady AcademicJune 17, 2026
Lunatics like this Kather are well-paid and get great benefits for putting out hooey like that. People pay a lot…

William M. Briggs

Class 92: Simple Optimal Decisions: PSA & Cancer Example

Math Is Epistemic Violence, Says Lady Academic

Truly Random Numbers Found?

Class 91: Try Not To Use the ROC Curve & AUC

Climate Change Increases Risk of Even Slower World Cup Games!

The Ultimate IQ Test: Guessing the Author’s Mind and Escaping the Infinity of Answers

Reader Poll: Shorter or Longer, Frequent or Rarer Posts?

No Model Will Save Us: Pope Leo, the Miserostat, and AI’s Woke Coders

How High an IQ Must A Person Have To Be Executed?

Class 90: Simple (Optimal) Decisions

Shocking Abortion Numbers: Death Distributions Show We’re Living Longer

Blessed Memorial Day; No Class; See You Wednesday

Why There Are (Probably) No UFOs: “Climate Change”

Creating Microbial Monsters To Terrorize Ourselves

Class 89: The Measure Most Modelers Forget: Skill Examples

The Shocking Conclusion of the HR Trilemma!

The HR Trilemma: Which Door Decides Your Fate?

Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death Penalty

How Experts Use “Calamities” to Find Official Victims & Gain Power

Richard Dawkins, The Big Muscles Fallacy & AI Pachinko

Class 88: The Most Neglected Concept: Skill