Posted inFun Philosophy Statistics
Best Statistics Question Ever
Several readers have sent this one in1. One Raymond Johnson (or was it Ryan Grover?) said he found the following picture on this blackboard (I pulled my copy from Flowing…
Posted inPhilosophy
What Faith Is Not
Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto, quoted in a Christmas newspaper article1 discussing the virgin birth of Jesus, said that he had "never seen a quark and nor has anyone else.…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Legal Standards Of Proof And Probability
Different courts and legal systems use diverse phrases about evidentiary standards of proof1. Few to none are precise in the sense that they offer a fixed probability number for this…
Posted inBook review Culture Philosophy Statistics
Jeffrey Sachs Saves The World
The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity by Jeffrey Sachs Says Jeffrey Sachs, economics professor at Columbia, "Economic theory indeed supports the view that high tax rates…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Robert Heinlein And Evolving Probabilities
Writer Stephen Dawson, a long-time participant at this blog, wrote and asked the following: In his The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein had his intelligent computer calculate the…
Posted inCulture Philosophy Statistics
Are Humans As Violent As In The Good Old Days?
If we had records of massacres as we have meteorological records, don't you think we might discover their internal laws, after several centuries of observation? --- Joseph de Maistre. There…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
The EPA, Dust, And The Ecological Fallacy
In last night's Republican debate, the candidates were asked if they could eliminate just one federal agency, which one would it be? Herman Cain chose the EPA: The first --…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
It’s No Coincidence: Rarity Is Subjective
I have in my hand---you'll have to trust me---a certain blade of grass. He is my favorite. The titling curvature of his blade can only be described as rakish, although…