William M. Briggs

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…

Philosophy

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Scientism

The other day on Twitter, I saw somebody quote approvingly these words by Neil deGrasse Tyson: The good thing about Science is that it's true whether or not you believe…

Philosophy

Ask A Scientific Ethicist: Estranged Mother, Thieving Boss, & More

Dear Scientific Ethicist, My wife has been estranged from her mother for over a decade. The split was caused when her mother disagreed with her choice of husband. Namely, me.…

Statistics

Time Series And Causality: Global Warming Example

Temperature causes Here is an atmospheric monthly average temperature series: T = (61, 69, 69, 70, 72, 65, 63) (all F). What caused the temperature to take the value T1…

Ray on Science Is Becoming FeelingsNovember 12, 2026
Remember the old song by Morris Albert? Feelings Nothing more than feelings Trying to forget my Feelings of love ETC.
John M on Pre-Order Everything You Believe Is Wrong (2nd edition)November 11, 2026
Yes, Happy Veterans Day from Petty Officer First Class John. I look forward to the book! I enjoyed the first.
Bill Hankel on Pre-Order Everything You Believe Is Wrong (2nd edition)November 11, 2026
An impressive list that I shall look forward to reading when my wife (or son) buys it for me for…
Brian (bulaoren) on Pre-Order Everything You Believe Is Wrong (2nd edition)November 11, 2026
Yes, time to stock up on necessities.
Cary Cotterman on Science Is Becoming FeelingsNovember 9, 2026
I'm still laughing about "Debolina".

William M. Briggs

Class 101: Entropy Part II

Pre-Order Everything You Believe Is Wrong (2nd edition)

Science Is Becoming Feelings

Class 100: Watch The Skies! But Only During Nuclear Tests?

After The Elections, The Book

The Solution To Evolution

Class 99: Entropy Part I

Book Update: Launch Date

Reading Bryan Johnson’s The Immortalism Manifesto

Class 98: Limitations of Genetic Associations With Personality

I’m Thinking Of A Number Between 1 and 5 (that you can’t guess)

Against Numerology: Some Basic Calculations

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