Philosophy – Page 99 – William M. Briggs

Entry For The Most Pompous Statement Of Scientism

Our friend John Cook came (via The Renaissance Mathematicus) across what is easily one of the most pompous declarations by a scientist we have ever seen. The words came from…

Philosophy Statistics

What Is And What We Know Of It, Probabilistically Speaking

Ontology is the study of what is and what is not. Epistemology is the study of our knowledge of what is and what is not. Though there are obvious points…

Book review Philosophy

Author Says Machines Will Take Over The World

At the Singularity awaits The Beast. Or so says James Barrat in Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era (Yours Truly only read the free…

Culture Philosophy

Could A Virgin Birth Ever Really Happen?

In an article Salon mistitled "About that 'immaculate' conception"1---the immaculate conception speaks of St Mary's entry into the world, not Jesus's---Daniel Engber, a developmental neuroscientist at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, gives us…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

Friedrich A. Hayek’s Lecture “The Pretense of Knowledge”

This was reprinted in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend. I've chopped it into parts for commenting. To act on the belief that we possess the knowledge and the…

Philosophy Statistics

What Random Means In Random Number Generation

Thinking about one-time pads reminded me to point this out. It's simple, really. A "random" number generator spits out a string of numbers or characters from some set, say c1,…

Fun Philosophy

Winner Announced in What Do You Call A Believer In Scientism Contest

More than 50 people entered some 100 words. I grouped these into three-plus-one categories: Honorable Mentions, Runner Ups, and Top 10. But there can be only one! Winner, that is,…

Fun Philosophy

What Do You Call Believer in Scientism? Contest

Toby Young at the Spectator ran this tweet yesterday: https://twitter.com/toadmeister/status/402545969956261888 The text (if you can't see) reads: "Is there a name for people who think reason and research evidence alone…

NLR on UFO Reports About To Blast Off!April 27, 2026
If there really were a species that could travel here from another planet, that would be something totally outside the…
Economist Says the Quiet Part Out Loud: High Energy Prices are ‘Good for the Climate’ | Progress with God on The Consensus That Wasn’t: Less Than 1%, Not 97%April 26, 2026
[…] economist would recognise as market-based. Yet we are told, with straight faces, that the ‘97% consensus‘ demands we accept…
John Pate on Noticing Differences Between Races Does Not PayApril 23, 2026
Ovarian Logic has no relationship to, and is not amenable to, formal logic or considerations of causality and empirical observation.…
C-Marie on Noticing Differences Between Races Does Not PayApril 22, 2026
Well, skin colour is given by God to each of us. And, Jesus Christ is the only Saviour. Let us…
Brian (bulaoren) on Noticing Differences Between Races Does Not PayApril 22, 2026
@Cary I'm not sure what a "Martian giant" is... Elon Musk? I tried Google but all I found was a…