William M. Briggs

Stream: Under Ash Carter, the Military is Now Looking for a Few Good Men, Women or Whatever

Today's post is at the Stream: Under Ash Carter, the Military is Now Looking for a Few Good Men, Women or Whatever. The first, and natural, reaction to the news…

Culture

Can A Scientist Believe In Miracles? — Guest Post by Bob Kurland

Visit Kurland's site for more. "Miracles always relate to the faith. That is why a belief in miracles is not a vacation from reason, a little holiday from the tedious…

Statistics

Another Drake Equation Paper Shows Why Drake Always Fails

We've seen the Drake equation in many forms, none of them very impressive. They all share the same failing, as we'll see. Two fellows, Frank and Sullivan, have another go.…

Podcast

You—Yes, You—Are Doing Probability & Statistics Wrong — Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rNCoSp8w9I Download MP3 Fellow users of probability, statistics, and computer "learning" algorithms, physics and social science modelers, big data wranglers, philosophers of science, epistemologists; other respected citizens. We're doing it…

Statistics

The Gambler’s Fallacy Proves Classical Statistics (Frequentist & Bayes) Fails

Everybody who's anybody---which makes, as we'll see, a lot of nobodies---knows the gambler's fallacy. Gambler watches the roulette wheel come up red six times running and says to himself, "Black…

Culture

Pride In Objectively Disordered Sexual Desires?

https://twitter.com/NYPD34Pct/status/747135422459940864 Yesterday was "Pride" day. Pride. Pride? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart. No, surely not that kind of pride. Pride goeth before destruction, and an…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: Good And Evil Aren’t Wholly Opposites

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 deep…

Culture

Brexit: A Decision By A Democracy

Picture from here (somehow the Twitter embedding didn't work). So, Brexit. A democracy has spoken. The will of the people being sovereign, or so says the theory which all love…

John Pate on Class 98: Limitations of Genetic Associations With PersonalityOctober 23, 2026
The plasticity available in the brain and CNS is the confounding factor. Nature via nurture. What actually gets expressed is…
Brian (bulaoren) on Class 98: Limitations of Genetic Associations With PersonalityOctober 22, 2026
Across the world, many jurisdictions ban pet "pit bulls". Are they in error?
NLR on Against Numerology: Some Basic CalculationsOctober 19, 2026
The mathematician Richard Guy wrote a paper "The strong law of small numbers", where he said, facetiously, but also serirously:…
aGrimm on Book UpdateOctober 16, 2026
I'm looking forward to the book; warts and all the first was enlightening and fun to read.
John Pate on Book UpdateOctober 14, 2026
I'm a big fan of LaTeX. I wrote a class package that made it into one or more of the…

William M. Briggs

Class 98: Limitations of Genetic Associations With Personality

I’m Thinking Of A Number Between 1 and 5 (that you can’t guess)

Against Numerology: Some Basic Calculations

Class 97: The Goal Of Models

Book Update

Sexual Assault Galore At Cornell

Class 96: Can Bayesianism Quantify True Belief?

Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save Us

Viewer Asks: Why Do I Bother?

Academics Call For The Killing Of Babies In “After-Birth” Abortions

Irrational Rationalists: Effective Altruists & The Planet of the Ants

Class 95: Answering P-Value Good Uses Challenges

Whoring For Climate Change

Lady Academics Tire Of Being Judged By Peer Review

Class 94: Quantifying The Unquantifiable

PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap Hanekamp

The MRS Degree — Guest Post by Johnathan Edwards

Politicians Demand “Right” To Be Protected Against AI

Class 93: P-values Challenge! List The “Good Uses” of P-value

Is the West Dying Out? The Demographic Crisis Explained: Jon Harris Podcast

Lindsay Clancy Strangled Her Kids Because Of “Climate Change”

Class 98: Limitations of Genetic Associations With Personality

I’m Thinking Of A Number Between 1 and 5 (that you can’t guess)

Stream: Under Ash Carter, the Military is Now Looking for a Few Good Men, Women or Whatever

Can A Scientist Believe In Miracles? — Guest Post by Bob Kurland

Another Drake Equation Paper Shows Why Drake Always Fails

You—Yes, You—Are Doing Probability & Statistics Wrong — Podcast

The Gambler’s Fallacy Proves Classical Statistics (Frequentist & Bayes) Fails

Pride In Objectively Disordered Sexual Desires?

Summary Against Modern Thought: Good And Evil Aren’t Wholly Opposites

Brexit: A Decision By A Democracy

There Is No Culture Without Inequality: Stove 1

Impose Your Beliefs Before They Impose Theirs

Telekinesis: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification

The Physics Of Blessings: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification