William M. Briggs

The Obama-HHS Diktat On Contraceptive Coverage: Non-Religious Arguments Against It

The government has decided that citizens who agree to work for other citizens must be given "free" coverage for contraceptives and drugs for auto-abortions. The "free" is a misnomer. Actually,…

Philosophy Statistics

Let’s Try This Time Series Thing Again: Part V

Part I, II, III, IV, V. We started by assuming each X was measured without error, that each observation was perfectly certain. This is not always so for real X.…

Philosophy Statistics

Let’s Try This Time Series Thing Again: Part IV

Part I, II, III, IV, V. We have before us X1 to X156. We started by assuming that something, called T, caused these data to take the values it did.…

Philosophy Statistics

Let’s Try This Time Series Thing Again: Part III

Part I, II, III, IV, V. The objection which will occur to those, Lord help them, who have had some statistical training is that "increased" means a combination of "linear…

Philosophy Statistics

Let’s Try This Time Series Thing Again: Part II

Part I, II, III, IV, V. Before us are the observations X1 to X156. Recall we are assuming that each of these X has been measured without any error. Given…

Statistics

Let’s Try This Time Series Thing Again: Part I

This series originally began 5 February 2012. Part I, II, III, IV, V. We've gone on and on about how to think about time series, but we are having trouble…

Philosophy Statistics

On Corrections In Science

Somebody attributed to Max Planck, a constant1 source of wisdom, the saying that science advances funeral by funeral. This is a pithy condensation of his more famous quotation: A new…

Culture Fun Statistics

Should Scientists Be Held Legally Responsible for Their Results?

That title is lifted from Popular Science's brief article. The idea is that scientists---as philosopher Christopher Essex reminded me, just like doctors and accountants and businessmen and engineers and everybody…

bob sykes on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
Humanism might be a better guide, if you are a high-IQ Greek philospher like Aristotle, or even Nietzsche. But for…
Uncle Mike on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
"...the only metric that matters is how many souls make it to Heaven..." This metric is tough to measure. There's…
JH on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
What Pinker missed was that if a religion is true, then living by its tenets is best. What does it…
C-Marie on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 17, 2026
For how long was the covid vaccine tested before being released, , AND FOR HOW LONG IS A VACCINE SUPPOSED…
Rudolph Harrier on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 16, 2026
During the COVID pandemic the Minnesota shut down directives were based on a computer model that said that tens of…

William M. Briggs

The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s Folly

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

The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s Folly

Lancet Discovers Public Health Is Politics

The Obama-HHS Diktat On Contraceptive Coverage: Non-Religious Arguments Against It

Let’s Try This Time Series Thing Again: Part V

Let’s Try This Time Series Thing Again: Part IV

Let’s Try This Time Series Thing Again: Part III

Let’s Try This Time Series Thing Again: Part II

Let’s Try This Time Series Thing Again: Part I

On Corrections In Science

Should Scientists Be Held Legally Responsible for Their Results?

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