Search Results for “probability” – Page 5

Reader Question: Probability is not real in the sense that real life things are real

Anon writes: Mr. Briggs, I am trying to understand the statement in the title. It [probability] is a measure of uncertainty. It is a measure of what we know or…

Statistics

Top Scientists Plead For Someone To Calculate The Probability Of The End Of The World

Here's how the AP climate doom article starts: Experts are ignoring the worst possible climate change catastrophic scenarios, including collapse of society or the potential extinction of humans, however unlikely,…

Philosophy Statistics

Probability is Logic

I was reading a draft of a book our own Fr John Rickert's is working on. Visual Logic: Seeing Classical and Modern Logic: An Introduction, a neat little handbook showing…

Statistics

Proof Probability & Statistics & AI Don’t Discover Cause

Everybody has read, or seen adaptations of, Bram Stocker's documentation of Dracula, the undead count, unlate of Transylvania. From these pages and films, we all know how to kill a…

Statistics

Local & Necessary Truths In Mathematical Proofs — And Probability

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp06oGD4m00 This video requires little math beyond what used to be taught in college. Its speaker is Terry Tao, who some say is the world's best living mathematician. Its (fun---truly)…

Class Statistics

Probability Thought Experiment With NNT: Reader Question

From reader Ernst, this interesting probability/statistics question. First, NNT = number needed to treat, which is, stealing from this site to save time, "The Number Needed to Treat (NNT) is…

Statistics

On Cause In Probability Models

Note This post originally ran 11 June 2019 under the title "When Cause Is Not A Cause -- Another Anti-P-Value Argument". The post itself is extracted and modified from this…

Philosophy Statistics

Subjective Probability Is Objective

Because certain forms of Bayesian probability, particularly so-called subjective probability, are being taken up in quantum mechanics, it's well to understand just what subjective probability is, if it's anything, and…

Cary D Cotterman on Marbles!June 23, 2026
In the summer of 1960, in Fresno, California, I lost my promotional "KYNO Top-Dog Radio" boulder in a game of…
Brian (bulaoren) on Marbles!June 23, 2026
Briggs! Have you lost your marbles? (somebody had to say it) When I was a little kid, I was nuts…
NLR on Marbles!June 23, 2026
Interesting
Franco on How Experts Use “Calamities” to Find Official Victims & Gain PowerJune 22, 2026
Probably my all time favorite has to be some variation of "War afflicts women and children most"
Johnno on Math Is Epistemic Violence, Says Lady AcademicJune 21, 2026
That's a lot of words just to say Math is intrinsically patriarchal because statistics show boys are better than girls…