Briggs

Stream: Doctors Killing Patients And Harvesting Their Organs

Today's post is at The Stream: When Doctors Kill Patients to Harvest Their Organs. "How's your headache, Mr Jones?" "Gettin' worse, doc. Had it off and on all week." "That's…

Culture

This Week In Doom — WMBriggs Podcast 18 May 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-4itd-EsC8 Joseph Umstatt A look back at the past week in the worst that was in aural form, featuring the music of Joseph Umstatt, Antonio Vivaldi, Nicola Fiorenza, and Luigi…

Book review Statistics

Book Update — Uncertainty & Breaking The Law Of Averages

I'll have the page proofs for Uncertainty mid week and I've until 10 June to turn them back in. (I begin teaching on the 13th.) This puts publication in early…

Philosophy Statistics

Quantum Mechanics, Potentiality, Ontology, Epistemology, & Probability

What is and what is known about what is are two concepts which are often entangled, especially in quantum mechanics (puns intentional). This is one of the subjects which I…

Philosophy SAMT

Summary Against Modern Thought: Failed Arguments For The Eternity Of The World I

See the first post in this series for an explanation and guide of our tour of Summa Contra Gentiles. All posts are under the category SAMT. Previous post. I'm departing…

Fun

Think You Can Simulate A Brain? Think Again

Since is Silly Saturday, a few fun back-of-the-envelope calculations on simulating a brain. I'm drawing from the marvelous, must-read (go do it now) essay "The empty brain: Your brain does…

Statistics

Brits Psychologists Cry “BS!” Over Research Practices. Or, Die P-Value, Die Die Die

In The British Psychological Society's official organ The Psychologist, two gents Tom Farsides and Paul Sparks, call BS on standard research practices. There is a worrying amount of outright fraud…

Statistics

Watching Porn Makes People More Religious? The Severe Limitations of Quantifying Behavior

One paper reports, "People who watch porn more than once a week tend to become more religious, a researcher claims, while those who watch racy videos occasionally tend to drift…

Tars Tarkas on Why The Drake Equation FailsDecember 30, 2025
"The Drake and Fermi are not flawed logically: one can put probabilities to any question." The Drake equation always struck…
NLR on Why The Drake Equation FailsDecember 30, 2025
There may or may not be extraterrestrial life, but if we ever see some, I suspect there will be surprises.…
Douglas Skinner on Why The Drake Equation FailsDecember 30, 2025
The other bookend paired with the Drake/Fermi speculations is Evolution. In this January's edition of First Things Magazine comes a…
C-Marie on Canada Invents New Euphemism For Doctor KillingsDecember 29, 2025
God loves you. Let Him take you home when it is time. In the mean time, give to our Father…
C. P. Benischek on Merry Christmas!December 29, 2025
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentle Briggs! Don’t dismay, Christmas isn’t yet over, but rather just warming up. A Child is…