William M. Briggs

Hats Are Back! Staring At Women’s Breasts Lowers Math Scores!

Fedoras For Fellas While watching an exquisite interpretation of the classic hose-in-the-face by one Curley "Babe" Howard on television, I inadvertently saw a commercial for the movie The Adjustment Bureau…

Culture

CliffsNotes for CliffsNotes: Now With Even Less Reading!

If there's one thing that's wrong with this country, it's that our poor, overworked, not-nearly-pampered enough children have too much reading to do. Why, there's Twitter ("#lindsaylohan Hate when i…

Culture Philosophy

Citizen Zings Deepak Chopra With Bolt Of Logic

From regular reader Bruce Foutch comes this video of a citizen asking "quantum healing" guru Deepak Chopra and some "Bishop" a simple question. The transcript reads: Emcee: I want to…

Statistics

Two Open Letters To Congress On Climate Change, And A New Third

There are two open letters shot off to Congress these last days, one from "alarmist" scientists and the other from "denialist" scientists1. Those pejoratives were not picked by me, but…

Statistics

In Their Own Words: Obama On Health, Holder On Race

Pay for your own damn health care In an interview with Bill O'Reilly, President O'bama said What I hear you saying is that the notion that us saying to people…

Culture

Music Not So Super At Super Bowl: Faked Cheering?

Oh, say, can you see, by the field's klieg lights, what so proudly we hailed? And proudly hailed to the world over in full Dolby surround-sound HD. What an embarrassment!…

Statistics

A Correction: I’ve Been Misquoted

On Thursday, 3 February of this year I was called by Saginaw News reporter Deborah Brown, who asked me, among other things, about claims made by folks like Al Gore…

Fun Statistics

Super Bowl Indicator Busted: A Sports/Markets Indicator for the Next Century—Guest Post by Doug Magowan

Doug Magowan spends his days poring over financial numbers. Today he offers us, tongue firmly in cheek, a new way to get rich quick. All you have to do is…

John Pate on On The Form Of Species: ‘Dance To The Tune Of Life’ by Denis Noble ReviewedDecember 16, 2025
Referring to my previous comment, it's nature via nurture. In any complex system transferring the plans to the finished item…
NLR on On The Form Of Species: ‘Dance To The Tune Of Life’ by Denis Noble ReviewedDecember 16, 2025
It sounds like Noble has some good points. People are increasingly recognizing problems with reductionism. For instance, saying that things…
Bobby Dress on How To Tell How Much Of “IQ” Is Inherited & How Much Is EnvironmentDecember 15, 2025
I’m fairly certain that obtaining my degree from Cornell had the unintended consequence of lowering whatever theoretical IQ I might…
JRob on How To Tell How Much Of “IQ” Is Inherited & How Much Is EnvironmentDecember 15, 2025
I love this debate about the heritability of intelligence. The smart people use a lot math about Gaussian and Pareto…
John Pate on How To Tell How Much Of “IQ” Is Inherited & How Much Is EnvironmentDecember 15, 2025
We know we don't understand consciousness let alone intelligence. IQ testing gets a bad rep though, it's a proxy for…

William M. Briggs

On The Form Of Species: ‘Dance To The Tune Of Life’ by Denis Noble Reviewed

How To Tell How Much Of “IQ” Is Inherited & How Much Is Environment

Class 74: Contra Effect Sizes

Academic Argues For Permissibility of Cannibalism, You Racist

I Finally Read James Lindsay’s Manifesto (Yes, He Has A Manifesto)

The Biggest Mistake In Science Applied To Universe As Simulation

Class 73: How To Tell If You Have Bad Dice

Academic Proposes Mushrooms To Avoid Compulsory Moral Bioenhancement

The Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Is Wrong: “Guns” are not the leading cause of death in kids

The Perfect Conspiracy Theory

Old Lodge Skins’ Prayer Of Thanksgiving

The Apples In A Sack Paradox: Solve It Or You Get No Pie Tomorrow

Antichrist, by Saint Robert Bellarmine

Donald vs Ishmael vs Esau — Guest Post by Ianto Watt

Class 72: Most Claims Of “Controlled For” Are Wrong: The Wrong Way

Black Women Can’t Do Physics As Well As White Men, Says Researcher

On That “Bombshell German Study” That “Exposes the PCR Test Fraud That Locked Down the World”

Masking Morality With Science: Men Pretending To Be Women In Sports

Why Study Probability?

The Dysgenics Of IVF

In Which An Atheist Becomes Sputteringly Angry Over Theist’s Argument

On The Form Of Species: ‘Dance To The Tune Of Life’ by Denis Noble Reviewed

How To Tell How Much Of “IQ” Is Inherited & How Much Is Environment

Hats Are Back! Staring At Women’s Breasts Lowers Math Scores!

CliffsNotes for CliffsNotes: Now With Even Less Reading!

Citizen Zings Deepak Chopra With Bolt Of Logic

Two Open Letters To Congress On Climate Change, And A New Third

In Their Own Words: Obama On Health, Holder On Race

Music Not So Super At Super Bowl: Faked Cheering?

A Correction: I’ve Been Misquoted

Super Bowl Indicator Busted: A Sports/Markets Indicator for the Next Century—Guest Post by Doug Magowan

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