William M. Briggs

Ask A Scientific Ethicist: Boy Who Thinks He’s A Boy & More

This week, three letters from concerned readers. Bobby's Bad Behavior Dear Scientific Ethicist, Our eight-year old child has been acting out, speaking out of turn, making shapes of weapons with…

Fun Statistics

Godzilla’s Changing Height: A Statistical Analysis

I grew up watching Channel 50's Creature Feature and Channel 7's 4 pm Monster Week movies, many of which featured Ultraman, Rodan, Gamera, Gargantua, and, of course, Godzilla. Too, I…

Philosophy Statistics

Frequentists Are Closet Bayesians: Confidence Interval Edition

Actually, all frequentists and Bayesians are logical probabilists, but if I put that in the title, few would believe it. A man might call himself an Anti-Gravitational Theorist, a science…

Statistics

William M. Briggs Sez: Keep That Impressive Middle Initial

You can take it from William M. Briggs, and also from the Today show: sporting a middle initial is a mark of sophistication, intelligence, and rugged manliness---or womanliness, as the…

Statistics

Researchers: Calling Girls Fat Makes Them Fat

Whatever you do, don't call somebody a "researcher". It could condemn them to a nasty, brutish, and short-tempered life. The kind where most of their time is spent scrambling for…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: The Office Of A Wise Man

The title is my liberal but reasonable translation of St Thomas's Summa Contra Gentiles, a book which we will go through, post by post---which is to say, his chapters are,…

Culture

Health Care And The Candy Store Called Socialism

Jim Fedako ( who wrote this piece; send him email) is a business analyst and homeschooling father of seven who lives in Lewis Center, OH. Some 27 years ago, I…

Fun

Well? What Do You Think? Or, New & Improved!

You may say absolutely anything you like, except that you don't like it. Well, you may say it, but I have my palms over my eyeballs so I won't see…

Buzz on Against The Anthropic PrincipleMay 17, 2025
Aren't men supposed to keep their hair short and women long, according to the Bible? Regarding the image.
Johnno on The Nuances and Challenges of Federal Funding for Research — Guest Post by An AcademicMay 16, 2025
There is another casualty of university research funding. Foreign professors hired to do research but who can't teach effectively due…
Brian (bulaoren) on The Nuances and Challenges of Federal Funding for Research — Guest Post by An AcademicMay 16, 2025
I now live in Arkansas, but over the course of my life, I have lived in a good few countries…
N. Ominous on The Sun Made To Set On The British Empire – Via Science!May 15, 2025
<> Yes, it's utterly absurd, but I'm not sure that it is an argument not to do the experiments. If…
Tony Cooke on Class 50: Independence Versus IrrelevanceMay 15, 2025
if you are using an Apple PC then you can use MathCapture to get the correct presentation of the probabilities…

William M. Briggs

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

Class 49: Relevance & Importance Of Evidence In Models

Miracle Or Coincidence? What Are The Chances?

Reproducibility Crises Will Be Forever With Us Until We Abandon Classical Statistics

AI Cannot Hallucinate Nor Lie

Class 48: What Is A Model?

I’m Going To Sue Scientists Who Gave Me Apoplexy Over Claims Of Climate Liability

Researchers Tell Models To Say People Will Die Without Your Money

The Sun Made To Set On The British Empire – Via Science!

Class 47: Billions Of Models!

A New Physics Arises: Irreducible by Federico Faggin Reviewed

Let Go Your Wee P! — Reader Help Requested

Class 46: Explanation & Abductive Weakness

The Educational Empire Strikes Back

Can Jinn & The Evil Eye Cause Disease?

Science: The Bigger The Hole In The Head, The More Politically Active

Class 45: The False Hope Of Falsification

New Paper Says Flu Vax Increases Chance Of Flu: Let’s Look