Philosophy – Page 3 – William M. Briggs

Our Base Metaphors & Analogies Used In Science Have Outlived Their Usefulness: Part I

Metaphors and analogies exhaust themselves. No matter how useful they are as guides to thought, pushed too far they can loosen our grip on Reality or lead to stagnation, and…

Philosophy Statistics

How Not To Think Like A Bayesian Rationalist

Lisping Rationalists When I read people like Eliezer Yudkowsky and Scott Alexander it becomes clear to me how the French could have built a Temple of Reason during The Terror.…

Philosophy

How Failing To Butcher Your Child Became “Child Abuse”

Three females, which I believe is significant, took to the pages of the journal Pediatrics and argued that failing to have a surgeon mutilate your child (for a large fee)…

Philosophy Statistics

The Frequency Interpretation Of Probability Is False: Some Reasons Contra von Mises

What is the chance that "Donald Trump wins the 2024 Presidential election"? Impossible to say, says Richard von Mises, because the event is singular and must be embedded in an…

Fun Philosophy

A Christmas Carol Revisited — Guest Post by Richard Law

Richard Law is a retired web engineer and writer living in Switzerland. 'Tis the season for Charles Dickens' (1812-1870) deservedly popular tale of the time-travels of Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas…

Philosophy

Doom For The Doomsday Argument

Heard of the Doomsday Argument, sometimes also called the Carter Catastrophe? It claims to be able to name the date, with a certain confidence, at which mankind dies off. It…

Philosophy

What Makes A Casino Gamble Different Than Making A Decision Under Uncertainty?

We continue with our week of pleasant Thanksgiving topics. A cop in the police procedural Hell Is A City (start around 54 minutes) discerned one of the bad guys he…

Culture Philosophy

Sex With Dogs & Other Critters Back In Vogue, Thanks To Academic Peter Singer

Very long time readers will know that we warned that the creation of the notion of "sexual orientation", and the criminalizing of "discrimination" against "sexual orientations", logically implied that all…

John Jorgensen on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 6, 2026
It’s not the machines that are of concern but the models they run with great speed and access to huge…
James on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 5, 2026
Assuming a 100% materialist world view, one must conclude that one's OWN thought processes are just so many particles exchanging…
Tellme on There Are No Such Thing As Gays (Or Transexuals)October 5, 2026
Other than impotent boys before puberty, and old men with low testosterone, all humans masturbate on purpose, or by accident.…
Brian (bulaoren) on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 5, 2026
Perhaps "Artificial Intelligence" is like an Artificial sex-doll; not the real thing, but close enough to get the job done.
Cary Cotterman on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 5, 2026
This is the first time I've come across anybody mentioning the obvious oh-eff-eff solution. Anything that requires electricity is completely…