Statistics – Page 155 – William M. Briggs

Statistician to the Stars For Hire!

Herein our semi-annual reminder that the purpose of this blog is mercenary. Filthy lucre is both impetus and goal of its daily readings. Moola, the spondulicks, the government's glory, the…

Statistics

Muggings, Nuclear Devices, Probability & Decision

Somehow I ended up on the curious site LessWrong.com, directed by somebody with the nickname Yud (from Eliezer Yudkowsky). Odd isn't in it. Investigating it led me to Reddit and…

Statistics

Don’t Use Statistical Models (When You Don’t Have To. Which Is Nearly Always)

Today, a convincing argument proving the current practice of probability and statistics is mostly wrong, or wrong-headed. The picture above does---and does not---show herbicide use in several countries by year…

Culture Statistics

Science Asks: Why Are Angry Atheists Annoying?

What's more annoying than an atheist who harangues passersby about "rationality"? Easy answer: a scientist who announces a discovery about human behavior that was known by everybody since Adam. Our…

Statistics

Scientific People Understand Reality Less, New Research Didn’t Study

Headline: Religious people understand the world less, study suggests, which derives from the peer-reviewed paper "Does Poor Understanding of Physical World Predict Religious and Paranormal Beliefs?" in Applied Cognitive Psychology…

Book review Fun Statistics

The Full Briggs?

Our friend Joseph Moore at Yard Sale of the Mind, a site surely on everybody's list already, whose photograph appears atop this post, wrote It doesn't get much more civilized…

Statistics

Stream: Pope Francis and President-Elect Trump Disagree on Global Warming Threat

Pope Francis and President-Elect Trump Disagree on Global Warming Threat: ... Yet the Holy Father will try and use his bully pulpit to influence the incoming administration. With the notable…

Statistics

Chapter 10 of Uncertainty: The Soul of Modeling, Probability & Statistics FREE for New Subscribers!

Today a deal so unbelievable that it can't be believed! No, wait. In fact, the deal was so unbelievable that it couldn't be believed. This follows logically: that which is…

John Pate on Desperate Need For Equality: AP Exam PerformanceFebruary 13, 2026
Supposedly AI is making everyone dumber. We can achieve equality via AI, there's nothing it can't do.
John Pate on Why The Recent Claims Of AGI Fail: Plus, A New Test For AGIFebruary 13, 2026
Qualia are the key to intelligence and not epiphenomena. Fancy auto-complete will never think.
Christopher C Reed on Another Academic Says Climate Skeptics Criminals Against Humanity And Other Name CallingFebruary 12, 2026
Congratulations on your promotion to Ringfueher, er...Ringleader! I suppose there may now be an opening for Henchman?
Brian. (bulaoren) on Desperate Need For Equality: AP Exam PerformanceFebruary 11, 2026
A lot of Americans have come to suspect that the "dumbing down" of the population is a real, and deliberate…
Heresolong on Desperate Need For Equality: AP Exam PerformanceFebruary 11, 2026
I can't but I don't understand most of the abbreviations. I look forward to your analysis.