William M. Briggs

Ritual Sacrifice Promoted Evolution Of Stratified Societies: A Statistical Fallacy

His Majesty Every human society except one is stratified. The exception is the empire of William I, a small sand island that comes and goes by a remote and isolated…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: God Can Do Everything Not Logically Impossible

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. Last week…

Culture

Norway’s Official Church Surrenders Christianity

They weren't the first Christian sect to surrender and they won't be the last, but the Norwegian church is one of the official state churches to give up on holy…

Culture

Why Do So Many Want Men In Ladies Rooms? Bonus: Did You Know It’s Earth Awareness Day?

Street Pest: Excuse me, sir, do you have a minute to save the earth? Intelligent Man: Huh? Oh. The earth? I'm not sure the earth would benefit from saving. SP:…

Statistics

Stream: Why Science Is Broken & How To Fix It

Today's post is at The Stream: Why Science Is Broken, and How To Fix It: It comes down to bad politics, bad money, and bad philosophy. Here are snippets. Plus:…

Podcast

WMBriggs Podcast 20 Apr 2016 — The End Of All History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiFiqwWt60M Lights Out clip, followed by the approach of Mars by Holst. If, as claimed by humanism, man were born only to be happy, he would not be born to…

Statistics

Scientism Of The First Kind: Science Shows Laptops Distract Students

https://twitter.com/mattstat/status/722028191582445568 Here's the headline. (It's NPR, so don't expect much.) "Attention Students: Put Your Laptops Away". And here's the relevant sad bit: For one thing, research shows that laptops and…

Fun

New & Improved Way To Support Your Favorite Blog!

Uncontrolled gleeful trembling is the most common symptom upon learning the Big News that there is a New & Improved! way to support the blog! You know this method must…

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…
Ursula on Book UpdateOctober 14, 2026
i have your first edition which I read, pencil in hand foor the typos. Loved it anyway! Will be buying…
Brian (buaoren) on Book UpdateOctober 14, 2026
Hello again, friend Briggs How colloquial is your French? Please allow me to be te first to wish you; Merde!
Cary Cotterman on Book UpdateOctober 14, 2026
I just might buy a copy of the new edition, even though I already have the typo-ridden first one. I'll…
Uncle Mike on Book UpdateOctober 14, 2026
I lent my first copy to somebody? and they never returned it, so yes, I will buy a new one,…

William M. Briggs

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”

Do Dogs Poop In Alignment With The Earth’s Magnetic Field?

Lewontin’s Other Fallacy: Race & Intelligence

Fertility Fears Overblown: Tiny Shift in Childless Rate Saves The Species