William M. Briggs

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…

Philosophy Statistics

More Reasons Not To Use The Precautionary Principle: Update

All probability is conditional and we are always interested in some proposition, call it X. We want to know "the probability of X". Well, there is none: not ever. There…

Statistics

Stream: Attack Of The Black Swans From Outer Space!

Today's post is at The Stream: "Attack Of The Black Swans From Outer Space: Nassim Nicholas Taleb and his co-authors fail to show their precautionary principle provides any guidance in…

Book review Philosophy

There’s More Than Physics: A Review Of Nagel’s Mind and Cosmos. Guest Post by Bob Kurland

Kurland provides us with a succinct review of Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False. This will ease us into the week with…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: Can God Know Things That Aren’t?

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. Some simple…

Culture Fun

Climatology Isn’t The Only Thing Killing Science

I received this interesting email from reader Mike Nash that I thought would be of interest to all. Nash saw my piece in the Federalist yesterday and commented. Sorry but…

Culture Statistics

Climate Change Alarmists Appear Immunized Against Reality at The Federalist

Today's post is at The Federalist: "Climate Change Alarmists Appear Immunized Against Reality". So Ars Technica sent a young man who bills himself as an "educator" and hydrologist to the…

Culture Philosophy

Planned Parenthood Kills And Sells Victims’ Body Parts. Evil Doc Says Yum

https://twitter.com/mattstat/status/621065430996643840 It was bit of black comedy yesterday watching the reaction to the news that Planned Parenthood was selling the body parts of its victims. If you were (understandably) in…

John W. Garrett on The Hubris Of Experts: NIH EditionJune 17, 2025
Yikes. Maybe the Rockefellers, the Hewletts, the Packards, Jeremy Grantham, Eric & Wendy Schmidt, the Waltons, Leo DiCaprio, Mike Bloomberg…
cdquarles on The Hubris Of Experts: NIH EditionJune 17, 2025
There was a wise politician who warned us about the government-media-academia complex over 60 years ago. That's right, the other…
McChuck on The Hubris Of Experts: NIH EditionJune 17, 2025
Remember, kids, a scientist is nothing more than an academic with a lab coat. Academics are people who have been…
NLR on The Hubris Of Experts: NIH EditionJune 17, 2025
Certainly, the science-industrial-government-university complex is corrupt. The criticism of it is all warranted. But even worse than expensive and frivolous…
Briggs on The Mathematics Of Conspiracy Theories. Part 1: Black Eye Club ExampleJune 16, 2025
Paul, You're right. It sucked. I'm redoing. JH, Very well. Construct for us a model that does not do what…

William M. Briggs

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

Academics Call Pregnancy A Disease