William M. Briggs

Government Per Capita Spending: Up, Up, And Away! Or, Happy Tax Day!

Here it is, folks. Right from WhiteHouse.gov. The amount of Federal Government spending per capita from 1901 to the present and projected out to 2019. Population projections were taken from…

Philosophy Statistics

The Hot Hand: Statistical Fluke Or Genuine Article?

I'll save you hunting through the text. It's a real thing. If you want to know why, read on. If not, you just tell 'em W.M. Briggs sez so, which…

Statistics

Truth: Logic of Probability and Statistics

Here, as promised, is rough, incomplete, outline-only, not-yet-finished, gist-only version of Chapter 1, Truth, for the book tentatively titled The Philosophy of Probability and Statistics (I'm also toying with The…

Philosophy Statistics

The Somebody-Might-Get-Hurt! Fallacy

Word is our beneficent government, which loves us and would not see us fall into harm, is working on a design for a system of chains to anchor both citizens…

Culture

How Teachers Learn To Identify Weapons From Non-Weapons

Yet another "educator" has confused the difference between a weapon and the fantasy of one. A 13-year-old boy from New Jersey was suspended from school for two days last week…

Culture

Lawyer Argues We Should Ignore Inconvenient Laws

Ilya Somin calls himself a lawyer, and he probably is one, too. Therefore what he says about the law must be right. Convinced by Somin's arguments, I will later this…

Culture

Science for the State; Or, Lysenko Lives

Jim Fedako (who wrote this piece; send him email) is a business analyst and homeschooling father of seven who lives in Lewis Center, OH. It sometimes seems that every regime…

Culture Statistics

Boys’ Toys V. Girls’ Toys: Researchers Still Trying To Prove They’re The Same

Last Thursday I was at the warthog park at the butt end of 57th street on the East river, reading and enjoying the rare sunshine. Nannies and moms (mostly nannies)…

hudbwu on Reading Bryan Johnson’s The Immortalism ManifestoNovember 5, 2026
I dunno man, Jesus has been promising me eternal life. He even said I'll have it whether I want to…
Neil Jordan on Class 100: Watch The Skies! But Only During Nuclear Tests?November 5, 2026
Let me throw some fat on the fire - radioactive fallout particles on photographic materials. There are many references on…
C-Marie on After The Elections, The BookNovember 4, 2026
My 83rd birthday is today, November 4, 1943.
Cary Cotterman on The Solution To EvolutionNovember 4, 2026
The older I get and the more I read and think, the less I seem to know. I used to…
-Alan Hopewell on Worst Science Fiction of All TimeNovember 4, 2026
I was not able to finish this literary cinderblock, even after three attempts. Having said that, I still believe that…

William M. Briggs

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

Whoring For Climate Change

Lady Academics Tire Of Being Judged By Peer Review

Class 94: Quantifying The Unquantifiable

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

After The Elections, The Book

Government Per Capita Spending: Up, Up, And Away! Or, Happy Tax Day!

The Hot Hand: Statistical Fluke Or Genuine Article?

Truth: Logic of Probability and Statistics

The Somebody-Might-Get-Hurt! Fallacy

How Teachers Learn To Identify Weapons From Non-Weapons

Lawyer Argues We Should Ignore Inconvenient Laws

Science for the State; Or, Lysenko Lives

Boys’ Toys V. Girls’ Toys: Researchers Still Trying To Prove They’re The Same

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