Posted inStatistics
Can Telomeres Predict How Long You Will Live?
No, they can't. Not exactly, and perhaps not with sufficient precision to be useful to you. But there is a new company called Life Length who will sell you, for…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
Rights, Rights, And More Rights—But No Responsibilities
Busy day. So here, just for fun, and woefully incomplete, are a list of "rights" recently discovered. Remember: there can be no rights without responsibilities. If you invoke a right,…
Posted inPhilosophy
The Economic Fallacy, Greenpeace, David Suzuki, And Global Warming
"You can't believe what that guy says. He research was funded by Greenpeace!" The person uttering this sentence has committed the economic fallacy, which is the belief that the truth…
Posted inCulture Philosophy Statistics
David Stove, PMS Admakers Apologize For PMS Apology Ad, San Franciscan Criminals, More
David Stove David Stove has a posthumous essay, put out in book form: What’s Wrong With Benevolence: Happiness, Private Property, and the Limits of Enlightenment. There is a review at…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
The Selfish Genes Of Dennett’s Atheists
If you're not busy this December 2nd and 3rd, and happen to be in the Buffalo area, you might drop in on the Center for Inquiry's symposium "Daniel Dennett and…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
Science Explains Belief In God Through Genetics
Let's look at "Life's Extremes: Atheists vs. Believers", a piece on Live Science (the home of unexpurgated university press releases; hat tip to HotAir). The article is itself slight---it begins…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Ten Politically Incorrect So-Called Truths About Human Nature: 6 – 10
See 1 - 5 here. 6. Beautiful people have more daughters And are thus more likely to divorce? And thus less likely to have fewer kids than the ugly people…
Posted inStatistics
Randomized Trials Are Not Needed
I promised this article a long time ago: I hope these well known calculations are enough to give the gist. Randomized controlled trials are supposed to be the gold standard…
