Statistics – Page 260 – William M. Briggs

Scientific Truths Are Not Better Truths Than Just-Plain Truths

One of the key fallacies of scientism, in the sense of being the most destructive to common sense and personal wellbeing, is to suppose that any theory put forth in…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

What Organic Boors, Swedish Pronouns, And The Exorcist Have In Common

Not much, except to demonstrate that the natural state of modernity is something closely resembling mass lunacy. To explain. Swedish Pronouns Via Sam Schulman â€(Twitter: @Sam_Schulman) we infer that 1984…

Statistics

How To Present Anything As Significant. Update: Nature Weighs In

Update The paper on which this post was based has hit the presses which was used as an occasion for Nature to opine that, just maybe, that some of the…

Philosophy Statistics

The Probability Of Nonsense In Science: Complexity & Verification

This is a work in progress, and today is a busy day. This is just for fun and for you to play with. The more complex the field of study,…

Fun Statistics

Sleeping Beauty Probability Problem

Update This has been moved up from its original 29 Feb 2012 date on 23 March 2012 to allow additional comments. Update This has been moved up from its original…

Statistics

Boy Sues Government To Stop Global Warming. James Hansen Comes Out Of Hiding

I had thought the furor was over, that those who held ultramontane views about climatologists like James "Lock me up!" Hansen (see below the fold) had given up and gone…

Culture Statistics

Many Lie About Their Support Of Gay Marriage: Study

Thanks to New York Times's (yes) Russ Douthat who alerted us to the paper "Findings from a Decade of Polling on Ballot Measures Regarding the Legal Status of SameÂ Sex…

Statistics

Study Finds 9-Month-Old Babies Are Racist

MSNBC reports this: University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers placed sensors on the heads of 9-month-old babies...and measured brain activity when infants were shown pictures of white and black faces expressing…

James on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 5, 2026
Assuming a 100% materialist world view, one must conclude that one's OWN thought processes are just so many particles exchanging…
Tellme on There Are No Such Thing As Gays (Or Transexuals)October 5, 2026
Other than impotent boys before puberty, and old men with low testosterone, all humans masturbate on purpose, or by accident.…
Brian (bulaoren) on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 5, 2026
Perhaps "Artificial Intelligence" is like an Artificial sex-doll; not the real thing, but close enough to get the job done.
Cary Cotterman on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 5, 2026
This is the first time I've come across anybody mentioning the obvious oh-eff-eff solution. Anything that requires electricity is completely…
Rich on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 5, 2026
We've all done this: On an old-fashioned calculator type "07734". Turn it upside-down. Friends say, "Ooh look! It says 'hello'".…