Posted inFun
Give It Up
Time for the semi-annual reminder. Give it up, readers. Dig in and pay out. Here are the ways to support the blog. Hire Briggs. Use the Contact form. Have Briggs…
Posted inStatistics
P-values vs. Bayes Is A False Dichotomy
There still exist defenders of p-values. The largest class, the superstitious, are those who remember nothing about p-values except that they must be wee. Let us in haste pass by…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
What Neural Nets Really Are: Or, Artificial Intelligence Pioneer Says Start Over
There is ancient wisdom in the phrase never believe your own press that computer scientists have laid aside in their quest to discover "artificial" "intelligence". In the Axios article "Artificial…
Posted inBook review Philosophy
The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions by David Berlinski
A modified version of this article ran 14 April 2008. There are a recent number of books seeking to either demonstrate, scientifically, that God does not exist, or to show…
Posted inStatistics
Middle Ground Between Precautionary Principle & Inaction
From reader (and listener!) Phil Pilkington (there asterisks are original): Hi Matt, Loved your speech. Hyperskeptical Economist that I am, M Taleb did us some great favours in outlining the…
Posted inBook review
Sean Carroll’s “The Big Picture” Reviewed: Why “Poetic Naturalism” is an Oxymoron — Guest Post by Bob Kurland
Another version of this article first appeared at Kurland's site. Scientism, the belief that science can explain everything about the world and ourselves, is a religion, although not formally expressed…
Posted inStatistics
DDP: Quack Cures For What Doesn’t Ail Us, Part II
I'm at the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness meeting in No-History City, Louisiana. Here's Part II of (an earlier draft of) the speech I gave Saturday. Consider donating $1 for every…
Posted inStatistics
DDP: Quack Cures For What Doesn’t Ail Us, Part I
I'm at the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness meeting in No-History City, Louisiana. Here's Part I of (an earlier draft of) the speech I gave Saturday. Consider donating $1 for every…