William M. Briggs

You Can’t Get Something From Nothing: The Experience of God, Part II

Read Part I You can't get there from here It's difficult, thus far impossible, to get Enlightened persons to understand nothing. Lord knows it's been tried. Some physicists---Larry Krauss, Vic…

Culture Fun Statistics

Best Picture Oscar Winner: Model Prediction

For several years I have been predicting (with perfect accuracy) the best picture Oscar. (See this and this for past years.) The "model" pick for this year is Captain Phillips.…

Philosophy Statistics

Why You Should Care About The Philosophy Of Probability & Statistics

"Why, Dr Briggs," asks the earnest Student, "Why must we study all this gobbledegook about philosophy when it's more important to learn all the neat methods of handling data? Why…

Culture

Briggs And The Owl: A Refutation Of Atheism

Note this is not your usual author."The owl of Minerva spreads its wings and takes flight when the shades of night are falling." --Hegel Or, as explained by Wikipedia, "[P]hilosophy…

Book review Philosophy

Which God Are You Rejecting? David Bentley Hart’s The Experience of God, Part I

The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss by David Bentley Hart. A good joke A joke which many atheists think clever goes like this: (speaking to a theist) "You reject…

Statistics

Update On The On-line Probability & Statistics Course. Comments Wanted

It's been a while, but I think I've finally figured out how to make an on-line class work. Details about this will be forthcoming, but for now I wanted to…

Culture Statistics

Prosecute Global Warming Heretics. Update 2: Kill, Nuremberg Them, Too!

Prosecute the heretics! is the new cry from the high priests of global warming. Climate "deniers", they say, are no better than mobsters, good fellas who are extorting the climate,…

Philosophy Statistics

The Mysticism Of Randomness: Philosophy of Probability & Statistics Video Series

Nothing can be caused by "chance". Chance, like randomness, isn't a thing, it isn't real, it isn't physical, therefore it cannot cause anything. Randomness means "unknown." Therefore "random variables" are…

Brian (bulaoren) on How High an IQ Must A Person Have To Be Executed?June 1, 2026
So, "Epsilon Minus" murderers would face the executioner? Maybe you really can fix stupid...
Willis Eschenbach on How High an IQ Must A Person Have To Be Executed?June 1, 2026
Thanks, Matt. I've been saying this (although far from as eloquently) for a while. If a person is so mentally…
Robert Arvanitis on How High an IQ Must A Person Have To Be Executed?June 1, 2026
The only question is capacity to recognize guilt. If the perpetrator was allowed to vote in national elections, the perpetrator…
Joe Blow on How High an IQ Must A Person Have To Be Executed?June 1, 2026
I would proffer from a species standpoint, REMOVING exceptionally low IQ individuals from the gene pool should be carried out…
Tim O. on How High an IQ Must A Person Have To Be Executed?June 1, 2026
ALL the concern over IQ and competency is the same smoke screen used as "motive" is commonly used: If the…

William M. Briggs

How High an IQ Must A Person Have To Be Executed?

Class 90: Simple (Optimal) Decisions

Shocking Abortion Numbers: Death Distributions Show We’re Living Longer

Blessed Memorial Day; No Class; See You Wednesday

Why There Are (Probably) No UFOs: “Climate Change”

Creating Microbial Monsters To Terrorize Ourselves

Class 89: The Measure Most Modelers Forget: Skill Examples

The Shocking Conclusion of the HR Trilemma!

The HR Trilemma: Which Door Decides Your Fate?

Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death Penalty

How Experts Use “Calamities” to Find Official Victims & Gain Power

Richard Dawkins, The Big Muscles Fallacy & AI Pachinko

Class 88: The Most Neglected Concept: Skill

The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising Answer

UFO Reports About To Blast Off!

Class 87: Calibration & Conformal Prediction: Examples

Noticing Differences Between Races Does Not Pay

What Are The Chances Of All These Scientists Dying, Killed, Or Going Missing?

Class 86: Calibration & Conformal Prediction: Theory

How A Miracle Turns Mundane

Contest Winner Announced!