William M. Briggs

Good Ways Of Speaking About Truth

"Quid est veritas?" Pilate asked. Famously, his interlocutor did not answer, perhaps because Pilate didn't give Him the chance. Then Pilate may have been (understandably) addled because the Answer was…

Philosophy Statistics

Bad Ways Of Speaking About Truth

Easy It is true that all men are mortal. It is also true that 2 + 3 = 5. Yet it is not "true" that all men are mortal, nor…

Fun

Dinner With Atheists: A Mini-Play In One Act

SCENE: The monthly meeting of the Madison Atheists Evangelization Society at the I-12 Marriot Courtyard's Badger Room, a rambunctious group sitting at a table, long side to the audience, like…

Statistics

Regression To The Mean (And Performance Curses) Simply Explained

I've just read about The Second Term Curse which supposedly besets (of course) second-term presidents. There is also the infamous Sports Illustrated Curse, which is said to befall athletes soon…

Statistics

Sam Harris Asks, “Can Science Answer Moral Questions?” No, Sam, It Cannot

I was having a back-and-forth on Twitter with Craig Mazin â€(@clmazin) about Sam Harris's claim that morality is a scientific and not a metaphysical question. As evidence, Mazin pointed me…

Culture Philosophy

The Unbelievers: The Movie. Richard Dawkins & Lawrence Krauss On Tour

A camera followed two village atheists on their wanderings, spliced together some of their less tedious talks, sprinkled in a few celebrity cameos, such as one by noted scientist Woody…

Culture Statistics

The Horrors And Hurt Feelings Of Profiling

"Ver are your papers!" "Um. Hang on. I'm sure I have them on me. Wait. Here," said the man, handing them over. The clerk examined them closely. He arched his…

Culture Fun

Knife-Wielding Teens Invade High School

What you are about to read is a true story. The question is why none of this has been picked up in the media. In late March a "flash mob"…

Gwyneth on The Biggest Mistake In Science Applied To Universe As SimulationDecember 8, 2025
A while back, in the heat of an argument, a man stated that, "There is only one reality." I replied…
_Jim on Antichrist, by Saint Robert BellarmineDecember 8, 2025
Of those poo-poohing, how many of you have read-up on the (many now) apparitions throughout history? Fatima, Loudres, Our Lady…
gareth on Class 73: How To Tell If You Have Bad DiceDecember 7, 2025
Beware anything that says "install.packages('')" Only yesterday I went to install an upgrade of some VNC package. "1 to install,…
John Pate on Class 73: How To Tell If You Have Bad DiceDecember 6, 2025
The problem came when computers made it easy to plug numbers without you really knowing what you're doing. It became…
Rudolph Harrier on Class 73: How To Tell If You Have Bad DiceDecember 6, 2025
I think the problem is that many people want to have a consistent process above all else. They don't want…

William M. Briggs

The Biggest Mistake In Science Applied To Universe As Simulation

Class 73: How To Tell If You Have Bad Dice

Academic Proposes Mushrooms To Avoid Compulsory Moral Bioenhancement

The Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Is Wrong: “Guns” are not the leading cause of death in kids

The Perfect Conspiracy Theory

Old Lodge Skins’ Prayer Of Thanksgiving

The Apples In A Sack Paradox: Solve It Or You Get No Pie Tomorrow

Antichrist, by Saint Robert Bellarmine

Donald vs Ishmael vs Esau — Guest Post by Ianto Watt

Class 72: Most Claims Of “Controlled For” Are Wrong: The Wrong Way

Black Women Can’t Do Physics As Well As White Men, Says Researcher

On That “Bombshell German Study” That “Exposes the PCR Test Fraud That Locked Down the World”

Masking Morality With Science: Men Pretending To Be Women In Sports

Why Study Probability?

The Dysgenics Of IVF

In Which An Atheist Becomes Sputteringly Angry Over Theist’s Argument

Academics Debate Which Term Best Describes Those Who Love (in that way) Their Pillows

Class 71: Never Trust ‘Research Shows’ Headlines: We Bring Cause To Data

Diversity Patrol Scanning Citations For Victims

Little Nate’s Plan To Save The World

Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education Causes Mass Squealing