William M. Briggs

Beneficent Government To Ban Another Thing (Trans Fats)

Studies show the government cares about you more than you care about you, that the government loves you more than your fractured ability to love it back, that this most…

Culture Philosophy

Students Eschewing Humanities In Favor Of Science

The Times is reporting that students are high-tailing it away from the humanities, scurrying into "STEM" departments. STEM is the educational buzzword of the day---theorists in education surf from fad…

Culture Statistics

The Boston Globe’s Failed Assassination Of Willie Soon

Christopher Rowland, the Washington Bureau Chief for the Boston Globe, is not a child molester. The Boston Globe has covered child molestation stories, suspiciously at times when Rowland was with…

Culture

What Happens When Research Yields Unpopular Findings

After learning the gabbling Stephan Lewandowsky was able to complain in the Associate for Psychological Science's Observer magazine that some loon called him a self-contradictory bad name, I became curious…

Statistics

Women With Large Posteriors Live Longer? Or Is Medical Reporting Nonsense?

When reader Bruce Foutch sent me the article "Ghanaian women with big buttocks will live longer---Research", I first thought, "Here's a story a Bayesian can really sink his teeth into"…

Culture

The Supraterranean War On Sanity: Scientists Versus Civilians

Cast your mind back to 1980. Nobody, not a soul, knew that gaspers, coffin nails, and cancer sticks were bad for you.1 Tobacco companies used an advanced form of mind…

Culture

Snot-nosed Brown University Brats Throw Temper Tantrum

When is the last time you saw a bratty kid throw a temper tantrum? If you were a professor at an American university, probably right after midterms. But if you…

Statistics

Robert Heinlein And The Distinction Between Scientist vs Academician

Christos Argyropoulos â€(@ChristosArgyrop) asked me to comment on his post of the same title at the blog Statistical Reflections of a Medical Doctor. Heinlein: One can judge from experiment, or…

Rudolph Harrier on The Great Smoothing: Another Reason Not To Fear (or trust) AIMarch 10, 2026
I've started thinking of this as the "juice loosener problem" (after the Simpsons bit where Dr. Nick hawks an orange…
Cary D Cotterman on The Great Smoothing: Another Reason Not To Fear (or trust) AIMarch 10, 2026
After spending years in school doing my own writing, then decades in my profession busting my ass to write somewhere…
Uncle Mike on The Great Smoothing: Another Reason Not To Fear (or trust) AIMarch 10, 2026
AI isn't the entity smoothing the data. The alleged decline in Arctic sea ice was a key assertion in Algore's…
JH on A Synchronicity Or Coincidence? What Is Behind Curious Events?March 10, 2026
The definition of cause can vary, and each incident may have its causes or contributing factors. I see coincidences as…
JH on The Great Smoothing: Another Reason Not To Fear (or trust) AIMarch 10, 2026
AI can be ‘gullible’ because it takes all the information fed into its optimization or backpropagation system. In many tasks,…

William M. Briggs

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

Some Sanity: Experts Sued For Creating Gender Delusions

Why The Recent Claims Of AGI Fail: Plus, A New Test For AGI

Polar Bears Are Doing Fine: Activists, Not So Well

Impossible LSAT Statistics Question

How Women’s Equality In Democracies Changes Voting (And Everything Else)

Class 77: Trendy Trends In Time Series

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

A Synchronicity Or Coincidence? What Is Behind Curious Events?

Beneficent Government To Ban Another Thing (Trans Fats)

Students Eschewing Humanities In Favor Of Science

The Boston Globe’s Failed Assassination Of Willie Soon

What Happens When Research Yields Unpopular Findings

Women With Large Posteriors Live Longer? Or Is Medical Reporting Nonsense?

The Supraterranean War On Sanity: Scientists Versus Civilians

Snot-nosed Brown University Brats Throw Temper Tantrum

Robert Heinlein And The Distinction Between Scientist vs Academician

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