William M. Briggs

Writer Says Discovery Of Extraterrestrial Life Would Be Bad News For God. God Says Nope

The danger of writing about that in which you are ignorant is that you're bound to look foolish. Let's see an example. Jeff Schweitzer, who bills himself as a scientist…

Philosophy Statistics

The Crisis Of Evidence: Why Probability And Statistics Cannot Discover Cause. New Paper

Cancer of the albondigas is horrifyingly under-diagnosed. See your doctor today and ask him if Profitizol is right for you. Today's post, in a way, is at Arxiv: The Crisis…

Culture Statistics

Stream: Vatican Environmental Conference: A Marriage of Bad Governors and Bad Science

Today's post is at the Stream: Vatican Environmental Conference: A Marriage of Bad Governors and Bad Science. The excerpt here keeps my caveman joke which was lost somewhere downstream. Jerry…

Philosophy

Is God is a Mathematician? Guest Post by Bob Kurland

Coincidentally, Bob Kurland sent this guest post on the day of miracles, a good follow up to yesterday's post. Feynman: "Do you know calculus?" Wouk: I admitted that I didn't.…

Philosophy Statistics

Bread From Something Or Nothing? Or, What’s A Miracle?

We interrupt our tour of Summa Contra Gentiles for this brief message. You've heard of the miracle of loaves and fishes? What's a miracle? How do miracles happen? Read these…

Culture

This Week In Doom: Crunchy Yummy Babies And A New Circle Of Hell

There's not much to enjoy about this week's doom, except to note that things are speeding up. Perhaps we need a pseudo-quantified measure of our acceleration into the abyss? Crunchy…

Culture

The Remnant: Ever Wonder Why Gmarriage Is Only Legal in Post Christian Nations?

Today's post is at The Remnant: "Ever Wonder Why Gmarriage Is Only Legal in Post Christian Nations?" Have you noticed that gmarriage---government-defined marriage---is legal only in post-Christian nations? Why this…

Book review Culture

The Perfectibility of Man: Suicide of the West at 50

It's (past) time we examined James Burnham's under-appreciated classic Suicide of the West: An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism, a book written fifty years ago. Everybody should…

Briggs on How Can You Tell If You Have ESP?June 30, 2025
Spetzer, All good points. I go into many of them later in the chapter.
spetzer86 on How Can You Tell If You Have ESP?June 30, 2025
If the receiver and sender independently wrote down the guess / card with no verbal communication, it might be better.…
JH on Class 56: The Best Model!June 29, 2025
How can you make predictions in the big data era without using a model? Trust your gut.
Jonas P. Kay on Which God Are You Rejecting? David Bentley Hart’s The Experience of God, Part IJune 28, 2025
I answer all by saying you cannot get something from nothing. There is beauty in its simplicity and it is…
Johnno on England’s Mandatory Suicide & WomenJune 27, 2025
So what's the betting pool on the odds about when and in which country will be the first to perform…

William M. Briggs

How Can You Tell If You Have ESP?

Class 56: The Best Model!

Sabine Hossenfelder’s Free Will Folly & The Deadly Sin Of Reification

England’s Mandatory Suicide & Women

On The Probability Of God

Class 55: Models Vs Reality

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