William M. Briggs

Reasoning To Belief: Feser’s The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism — Part V

Soul music Read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part Interlude, Part IV, Part V, Part VI. Part Last. A mistake followers of Aristotle or St. Thomas Aquinas would not…

Fun Statistics

Casino Deals Unshuffled Cards

As a break from things serious, consider this scenario: In a New Jersey casino, you walk up to an electronic slot machine, stick in a buck and punch the buttons.…

Statistics

End Of The World Approaches—This Time Via A “State Shift”

"Humans," the species nobody asked for, "now dominate Earth," the brutes, "changing it in ways that threaten its ability to sustain us and other species," for it is our duty…

Statistics

Statistics Of Drinking, Emailing, Pupil Size

Today, three studies from loyal readers. Drinking Creatively First up, the New York Post's Kyle Smith with an anecdote: Father O'Brien was driving home after lunch when a policeman pulled…

Culture Statistics

Bias Against Conservatives In Academia: Shocking New Study

Gander at this picture: This shows self-reported political affiliation of a group of academic social and personality psychologists (this included some graduate students and post docs). The graph is difficult…

Book review Philosophy

Reasoning To Belief: Feser’s The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism — Part IV

Read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part Interlude, Part IV, Part V, Part VI. Part Last. It's God All The Way Down Talk about causality without foreshadowing a tie…

Culture

The Tyranny of Artistic Modernism: Ugly Buildings, Ugly Paintings, Ugly Words, Ugly Life

Title before the colon taken from by Mark Anthony Signorelli and Nikos A. Salingaros's piece at New English Review. No real post today, just quotes from an article which is…

Statistics

A Peculiar Prevalence Of P Values Just Below .05

Today's title is lifted directly from the paper of E. J. Masicampo & Daniel R. Lalande, published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. The paper is here, and is…

McChuck on Test Your IQ With These Puzzles! (Not So Easy!)July 1, 2025
The answer for the pictured question is obviously '1', as the slot already has a '1' in it, which has…
Briggs on Test Your IQ With These Puzzles! (Not So Easy!)July 1, 2025
Mark, That's exactly it.
Mark on Test Your IQ With These Puzzles! (Not So Easy!)July 1, 2025
Wittgenstein gave some examples like this in his Remarks on the Foundation of Mathematics, a book I had no business…
hudbwu on AI & Chess Both Produce Pre-Coded OutputJuly 1, 2025
The wrinkle is in the (pseudo-)random number generator. In principle, the random number generator can be hijacked by a higher…
hudbwu on On The Probability Of GodJuly 1, 2025
I don't think omnibenevolence is part of the definition of God. Not only because, as you stated, there is nothing…

William M. Briggs

Test Your IQ With These Puzzles! (Not So Easy!)

How Can You Tell If You Have ESP?

Class 56: The Best Model!

Sabine Hossenfelder’s Free Will Folly & The Deadly Sin Of Reification

England’s Mandatory Suicide & Women

On The Probability Of God

Class 55: Models Vs Reality

AI & Chess Both Produce Pre-Coded Output

The Hubris Of Experts: NIH Edition

The Mathematics Of Conspiracy Theories. Part 1: Black Eye Club Example

Class 54: Exchangeability & Parameters

Over-Certainty Of Polygenic Scores

AI & The Dilemma Of Technology

What Are The Chances Thomas Jefferson & John Adams Died On The Fourth of July, 1826?

Class 53: Laplace Was Right!

Even The Woke Say Science Is Petering Out

Expert Nathan Confas: Experts Know Best

Science Claims 7% Of Adults Saw A Mass Shooting

Class 52: The Origin Of Parameters

IQ Is Not Intelligence

What Are The Chances…George Wendt Dies On Same Day Cheers Ended 32 Years Before?

Test Your IQ With These Puzzles! (Not So Easy!)

How Can You Tell If You Have ESP?

Reasoning To Belief: Feser’s The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism — Part V

Casino Deals Unshuffled Cards

End Of The World Approaches—This Time Via A “State Shift”

Statistics Of Drinking, Emailing, Pupil Size

Bias Against Conservatives In Academia: Shocking New Study

Reasoning To Belief: Feser’s The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism — Part IV

The Tyranny of Artistic Modernism: Ugly Buildings, Ugly Paintings, Ugly Words, Ugly Life

A Peculiar Prevalence Of P Values Just Below .05

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