William M. Briggs

Scientific Truths Are Not Better Truths Than Just-Plain Truths

One of the key fallacies of scientism, in the sense of being the most destructive to common sense and personal wellbeing, is to suppose that any theory put forth in…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

What Organic Boors, Swedish Pronouns, And The Exorcist Have In Common

Not much, except to demonstrate that the natural state of modernity is something closely resembling mass lunacy. To explain. Swedish Pronouns Via Sam Schulman â€(Twitter: @Sam_Schulman) we infer that 1984…

Statistics

How To Present Anything As Significant. Update: Nature Weighs In

Update The paper on which this post was based has hit the presses which was used as an occasion for Nature to opine that, just maybe, that some of the…

Culture

Holocaust Survivor Compares Climate Skeptics To Hitler Deniers

Micha Tomkiewicz is a physicist who tells us he was a child in the Warsaw Ghetto and Bergen-Belsen during World War II when the Nazis (and Soviets) were gleefully murdering…

Culture Philosophy

Dutch Doctors’ Strange New House Calls

Dr Overlijden of Levenseindekliniek A new contest is in order, if it doesn't already exist. Each year we should recognize and award the person or group who invents the best…

Philosophy Statistics

The Probability Of Nonsense In Science: Complexity & Verification

This is a work in progress, and today is a busy day. This is just for fun and for you to play with. The more complex the field of study,…

Fun Statistics

Sleeping Beauty Probability Problem

Update This has been moved up from its original 29 Feb 2012 date on 23 March 2012 to allow additional comments. Update This has been moved up from its original…

Philosophy

The Implications Of Moral Insignificance

In her piece "In Praise of Insignificance" in Scientific American, Jennifer Ouellette says, If one embraces an atheist worldview, it necessarily requires embracing, even celebrating, one's insignificance. It's a tall…

JR Ewing on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 16, 2026
"For these crimes, our rulers paid no price. Not directly." ----------------------- It depresses me when I think about it, so…
NLR on On Not ReadingMarch 15, 2026
quote from Idonotreadcomments: "everything men create is derivative of what came before us. There are no stories that have not…
Rudolph Harrier on On Not ReadingMarch 14, 2026
Idonotreadcomments: you are making the wrong observation from bookstores. Certainly that sort of smut is plentiful in bookstores, and this…
Nym Coy on On Not ReadingMarch 13, 2026
Might I interest you in a book? It is called Mumbai Singularity, and it is a mythic cyberpunk detective thriller…
Uncle Mike on Class 82: Be More Uncertain (About Models)March 12, 2026
The probability of significant "climate change" in equatorial Africa is very small because most climate change occurs at the poles.…

William M. Briggs

Lancet Discovers Public Health Is Politics

Class 82: Be More Uncertain (About Models)

On Not Reading

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