William M. Briggs

Enjoy Coffee? You Could Be A Psychopath. Or, Time For A Two-Year Moratorium Of Questionnaire Science

The headline blared "Enjoy coffee or a gin and tonic? You could be a psychopath: People with dark personalities prefer bitter foods and drinks". And then the bullet points: *…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: God’s Will And Contingency

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. Contingency is…

Culture

This Week In Doom: SJW’s Openly Deploying F-Bombs

So a magazine which follows advertisers' leads on how to match sock color F-bombed that neurosurgeon fellow who happens to be running for president. GQ, which I'm not sure who…

Statistics

How Many Deaths Does Reading @Voxdotcom Cause?

Bernd Felsche ?sends the breaking Vox news story "How many deaths did Volkswagen's pollution scandal cause? A back-of-the-envelope estimate." This article may represent the triumph of "explanatory" journalism. Volkswagen was…

Statistics

There Is No Such Thing As A 1000-Year Flood

Phrases like "100 year rainfalls" or floods or whatever for whatever period of time are awful. They convey an improper idea of uncertainty. The phrase "X year event" is based…

Culture

Never Adopt The Enemy’s Language

We should never adopt the enemy's language. It unnecessarily concedes him a victory and lessens our ability to think and to argue. Listen to Orwell! I was reminded of this…

Philosophy

Atheists Claim There Is No Such Thing As Gravity—Or Shakespeare!

How's this argument grab you? There are many competing theories of (quantum) gravity. They cannot all be correct. Therefore, they must all be wrong and thus there is no such…

Culture

The Battle Over Sexuality In The Catholic Church Begins

Phase two of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family has kicked off at the Vatican. Perhaps you recall the "earthquake" set off at last year's Phase one. Here's a refresher.…

NLR on AI & Chess Both Produce Pre-Coded OutputJune 18, 2025
One might wonder why, after billions of dollars spent building up infrastructure, paying workers to program and "train" (calibrate) this…
Briggs on AI & Chess Both Produce Pre-Coded OutputJune 18, 2025
Michael, No, it's the code. The code says "Take this X and do this and such to it," where X…
Michael 2 on AI & Chess Both Produce Pre-Coded OutputJune 18, 2025
The Large Language Models (LLM, ChatGPT kind of thing) use code to process training data. The output is NOT determined…
Hagfish Bagpipe on The Hubris Of Experts: NIH EditionJune 17, 2025
HagFISH. Sheesh
Hagfush Bagpipe on The Hubris Of Experts: NIH EditionJune 17, 2025
Briggs, watching you work is like watching an expert woodsman split wood. You have a keen eye for the natural…

William M. Briggs

AI & Chess Both Produce Pre-Coded Output

The Hubris Of Experts: NIH Edition

The Mathematics Of Conspiracy Theories. Part 1: Black Eye Club Example

Class 54: Exchangeability & Parameters

Over-Certainty Of Polygenic Scores

AI & The Dilemma Of Technology

What Are The Chances Thomas Jefferson & John Adams Died On The Fourth of July, 1826?

Class 53: Laplace Was Right!

Even The Woke Say Science Is Petering Out

Expert Nathan Confas: Experts Know Best

Science Claims 7% Of Adults Saw A Mass Shooting

Class 52: The Origin Of Parameters

IQ Is Not Intelligence

What Are The Chances…George Wendt Dies On Same Day Cheers Ended 32 Years Before?

Class 51: Bayes Is Only A Formula

Blacks Have Black Fatigue: Who Is At Fault?

A Reason The Birthrate Is So Low: Food

What Are The Chances…A Women Survives Cancer 4 Times To Be Killed By “Random” Bullet?

Class 50: Independence Versus Irrelevance

The Nuances and Challenges of Federal Funding for Research — Guest Post by An Academic

Eggs and ‘PFAS-Easter’ or Selling Fear on the Day of Resurrection — Guest Post by Jaap Hanekamp

AI & Chess Both Produce Pre-Coded Output

The Hubris Of Experts: NIH Edition

Enjoy Coffee? You Could Be A Psychopath. Or, Time For A Two-Year Moratorium Of Questionnaire Science

Summary Against Modern Thought: God’s Will And Contingency

This Week In Doom: SJW’s Openly Deploying F-Bombs

How Many Deaths Does Reading @Voxdotcom Cause?

There Is No Such Thing As A 1000-Year Flood

Never Adopt The Enemy’s Language

Atheists Claim There Is No Such Thing As Gravity—Or Shakespeare!

The Battle Over Sexuality In The Catholic Church Begins

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