2013 – Page 19 – William M. Briggs

Belloc On The Limited Intelligence Of Scientists

From Hilaire Belloc's Richelieu, J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia & Londen, 1929, p. 23, in the context of disproving the social theory of historical events, i.e. the one which claims individuals…

Book review Philosophy

Our Brains Are Not Us: Review of Brainwashed

My nomination for Worst Use of Inference in a Scientific Paper (2009) is "The neural correlates of religious and nonreligious belief" by brain scientist cum philosopher Sam Harris and colleagues.…

Statistics

The Epidemiologist Fallacy Strikes Again. EPA, CARB, And Air Pollution

Here is an email I received from Jim Enstrom of the Scientific Integrity Institute (modified to embed the links; incidentally, CARB is the California Air Resources Board, a source of…

Culture

What’s Happening Between Russia And The Church?

No, really. I'm asking. I don't know but would like to. Something's brewing, or perhaps has already brewed. Consider these points: Item Patriarch Kirill "warned Western governments on Sunday against…

Statistics

Rise In Violence Linked To Poor Statistics. Or Climate Change

Welcome Der Spiegel readers. See also this post. The computer revolution has been as bloody, wrenching, and disruptive as any other conflict. But unlike in territorial wars where there are…

Philosophy

We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, Researchers

Blockbuster science headline of last week was "Neuroscientists plant false memories in the brain." The whetted some intellects---if intellects can be whetted---and caused others to tizzy. Philip Dick turned out…

Fun

Young Writer (Not Me) Seeks Employment

Ladies and Gentlemen---and you, too, Fran---may I introduce William J. Briggs, my number one son. Note the "J": he's named after my father, not myself. I call him James, but…

Culture

XKeyscore: Too Early For I Told You So?

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety, unless they're scared of terrorists, and then it's okay---Benjamin Franklin So the…

Tony Cooke on Class 50: Independence Versus IrrelevanceMay 15, 2025
if you are using an Apple PC then you can use MathCapture to get the correct presentation of the probabilities…
Chaeremon on The Nuances and Challenges of Federal Funding for Research — Guest Post by An AcademicMay 15, 2025
Re: business of conducting research> brave as I am, in 2008 I requested a quote from Science Exchange scienceexchange.com/s/about “Please…
Greg Ostman on New Paper Says Flu Vax Increases Chance Of Flu: Let’s LookMay 14, 2025
All Astro physics to me but how about just take the numbers of vaxed and unvaxed then see how many…
Paul Murphy on The Nuances and Challenges of Federal Funding for Research — Guest Post by An AcademicMay 14, 2025
Wow, what is that the naive outsider's view? In reality: 1 - you don't get tenure unless your name is…
cdquarles on The Nuances and Challenges of Federal Funding for Research — Guest Post by An AcademicMay 14, 2025
It is laughable that the premise that "commercial" funding of research is corrupting, but government funding isn't. What was that…