William M. Briggs

Lancet Editor: Half Of Science Is Wrong. An Underestimate?

Half of science may be wrong? That may be an underestimate. But at least Richard Horton, the editor in chief of The Lancet, is in the right ballpark. Ballpark? That…

Culture

Junk Science and Cheap Moralism on the Tiber: The Church And Global Warming

Today's post is at The Stream.org. Junk Science and Cheap Moralism on the Tiber: The Vatican's top science officer lashes out at critics, defending his alliance with abortion advocates and…

Culture

What Went Wrong In Ireland, And What Will Go Wrong Here

What went awry in Ireland was not the result of the vote, a result which was, of course, the wrong decision. The offense was something much deeper, something basic. It…

Fun

Something To Cheer The Irish (And The Rest Of Us)

Given the state of the world, and because this is a long weekend with scarcely anyone around, this picture. It is Bubba Anderson, a (then) girl who went to the…

Culture

The Week In Doom: Nervous Sheep & Intolerant Irish

https://twitter.com/LADFLEG/status/602012010470080512 Return of the snakes As of this writing, Ireland has voted 60%-ish to allow two men or two women---and only two at this point; arbitrary discrimination, no?---to pretend to…

Culture

Gay-conversion Therapy Bans And The Origin Of Homosexual

When "gay" or "homosexual" meant somebody who predominately engaged in same-sex activities, the words had some use, but with an inherent and real danger that people, via this language, would…

Culture

Ireland’s Same-Sex Gmarriage Vote: Or, The Snakes Return?

Update See Saturday's post for results. Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has "no wish to stuff [his] religious views down other people's throats"---is that done with a shillelagh?---and so he won't…

Statistics

Are Wars And Violence Decreasing? Taleb’s New Paper Reviewed

The vale of tears I've been asked by several people to comment on Pasquale Cirillo and Nassim Nicholas Taleb's paper (thankfully, not peer-reviewed, unless you count this) "On the tail…

Uncle Mike on Class 83: Why Were Paul Ehrlich’s Predictions So Good (and so Bad)?March 20, 2026
Hall of Fame essay. Post this again and often, whenever you have an opening.
John M on Class 83: Why Were Paul Ehrlich’s Predictions So Good (and so Bad)?March 20, 2026
Peer review: Larry and Curlie agreeing Moe has a good idea.
Rudolph Harrier on Class 83: Why Were Paul Ehrlich’s Predictions So Good (and so Bad)?March 19, 2026
It's always "I'm right, because all the experts say I'm right. You wouldn't want to disagree with the experts, would…
John M on The Great Effeminization of the AcademyMarch 18, 2026
Genesis 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman…
Cary D Cotterman on The Great Effeminization of the AcademyMarch 18, 2026
I can't read the titles or the excerpts without laughing out loud. They are comedy gold.

William M. Briggs

Class 83: Why Were Paul Ehrlich’s Predictions So Good (and so Bad)?

The Great Effeminization of the Academy

The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s Folly

Lancet Discovers Public Health Is Politics

Class 82: Be More Uncertain (About Models)

On Not Reading

The Great Smoothing: Another Reason Not To Fear (or trust) AI

A Synchronicity Or Coincidence? What Is Behind Curious Events?

Class 81: The Second Biggest Error In Time Series

The Paper Test Shows Why AGI Is Not Possible: And Why The Brain Is Different In Kind

Researcher Imagines Weather With No Human Influence: Concludes Climate Change Hurts Incomes

Faith Deposited: Why Godless Science Fails

Class 80: Granger Causality; Per Se & Accidental Time Series; Stationarity

Scientists Seeking To Escape Criticism Run To The Warmth & Comfort Of Bluesky

The Loss of Ephemera — Guest Post by The Blonde Bombshell

Class 79: Time Series Example

The Importance Of Not Making Decisions

Don’t Take The ‘Long-Covid’ Alzheimer’s Study Seriously

AI Is Driving Many Crazy: Our Latest Panic

Class 78: The Attempt To Turn Correlation Lead Into Causation Gold In Time Series

Desperate Need For Equality: AP Exam Performance

Class 83: Why Were Paul Ehrlich’s Predictions So Good (and so Bad)?

The Great Effeminization of the Academy

Lancet Editor: Half Of Science Is Wrong. An Underestimate?

Junk Science and Cheap Moralism on the Tiber: The Church And Global Warming

What Went Wrong In Ireland, And What Will Go Wrong Here

Something To Cheer The Irish (And The Rest Of Us)

The Week In Doom: Nervous Sheep & Intolerant Irish

Gay-conversion Therapy Bans And The Origin Of Homosexual

Ireland’s Same-Sex Gmarriage Vote: Or, The Snakes Return?

Are Wars And Violence Decreasing? Taleb’s New Paper Reviewed

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