2012 – Page 9 – William M. Briggs

Realism vs. Anti-Realism III: The anti-realist response — Guest Post by G. Rodrigues

We have no space to follow St. Thomas through all these negative heresies; but a word must be said about Nominalism or the doubt founded on the things that differ.…

Statistics

Eating Chocolate Increases Chance Of Nobel Prize, P< 0.05

Yesterday, those noble Nobel fellows, the same committee that honored President Obama---what was it? six, seven days after he assumed office?---, gave this year's Peace Prize to the European Union.…

Philosophy

Realism vs. Anti-Realism II: The realist challenge — Guest Post by G. Rodrigues

The one who will not work fits what is written about the virgins of Israel: he gives birth to wind -- but the one who will work gives birth to…

Culture Philosophy

The Year Of Faith: What Strange Things People Believe

What better way to start the Year of Faith than with this headline: Experts: Global warming means more Antarctic ice This was atop an article penned Seth Borenstein, who noticed…

Statistics

The Future of Scientific Publications: Abandon Journals?

It took three years--or was it four?---for a paper I submitted to the august journal Annals of Statistics to wend its way through peer review. When it came back to…

Philosophy

Realism vs. Anti-Realism I: Introduction — Guest Post by G. Rodrigues

The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve. We should…

Book review Philosophy

Caring Is Killing Us: What’s Wrong With Benevolence by David Stove

This review ran last August, but because of pressures of work and the relevance this important book has to our upcoming elections, it's time for another look. Regular posts resume…

Statistics

Debate Thread: “Where Was This Romney Before?” Always There

Chris Matthews looked as though he saw the men with the nets coming for him, the tingles evidently having traveled from his leg and lodging in his frontal cortex. An…

Briggs on How Can You Tell If You Have ESP?June 30, 2025
Spetzer, All good points. I go into many of them later in the chapter.
spetzer86 on How Can You Tell If You Have ESP?June 30, 2025
If the receiver and sender independently wrote down the guess / card with no verbal communication, it might be better.…
JH on Class 56: The Best Model!June 29, 2025
How can you make predictions in the big data era without using a model? Trust your gut.
Jonas P. Kay on Which God Are You Rejecting? David Bentley Hart’s The Experience of God, Part IJune 28, 2025
I answer all by saying you cannot get something from nothing. There is beauty in its simplicity and it is…
Johnno on England’s Mandatory Suicide & WomenJune 27, 2025
So what's the betting pool on the odds about when and in which country will be the first to perform…