William M. Briggs

Doctors At NEJM Release Important New Statement: Do Not Get Sick

It's not certain---where I take that word in its strict sense---that the men on our side of Reality are right about how to gain and keep health. Should you slonk…

Philosophy

How The Laws Of Physics Lie

The title is Nancy Cartwright's, from her book of the same name, and from an article which forms Chapter 3, "Do the Laws of Physics State the Facts?" No, she…

Culture

On Why That “In Defense of Merit in Science” Paper Will Fail In Its Worthy Goal

You might have heard of the peer-reviewed article "In Defense of Merit in Science" by "intellectual dark web" members like Peter Boghossian and old-school lefties like Jerry Coyne, John McWhorter…

Statistics

The Less You Know About Climate, The More You Cry About Climate

Some things, the saying goes, are too good to check. Take the peer-reviewed paper "Environmental knowledge is inversely associated with climate change anxiety" by Hannes Zacher and Cort W. Rudolph…

Culture

Why The Inexorable Increase In The Expertocracy: Examples

Our goal, no easy one, is to figure the trajectory of the Expertocracy. Their goal we know. Complete total full control of every aspect of all life under the guidance,…

Philosophy Statistics

There Is No Problem Of Old Evidence In Bayesian Probability

Rationalists, like those at Less Wrong (think Eliezer Yudkowsky and Scott Alexander), are prone to fetishsize Bayes theorem, seeing it as the key to all thought. It isn't. Bayes is…

Culture

What Are Your Best Theories For Carlson, Bongino, Lemon Firings?

My guess is that the oligarchs pushed out Don Lemon at CNN, and Tucker Carlson and Dan Bongino at Fox, in an effort to cool the flames the oligarchs lit.…

Culture

Virtue Signaling Proves Why Science Is Broken

Few years back some folks invited me to give a talk at Fermi Lab. Subject was how mistaken views of probability were holding particle physics back. (Which I still think…

John Pate on The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising AnswerApril 30, 2026
I would press the red button because it's the red button. The bigger the red button the harder you hit…
Polybius II on The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising AnswerApril 29, 2026
"their Other Lives’ Value premise is something vague about man, but not men" I am reminded of a british comedian…
Johnno on The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising AnswerApril 29, 2026
But do we get time to explain to everyone and have them all sit down and have a discussion before…
gareth on Class 87: Calibration & Conformal Prediction: ExamplesApril 29, 2026
Timestamp 21:35: A "correction" from 0.8 to 1.0 is a "correction factor" of 1.25, not 0.2 (akshully wot you mean…
Cato on The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising AnswerApril 29, 2026
There’s no point to a world without me; of course I press Red.

William M. Briggs

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!

Trump’s Last Stand: Mea Culpa, Redux — Guest Post by Ianto Watt

Class 85: Proper Scores of Model Goodness

Proof!

Justice Ketanji Roars

Iran Has Caught Covid: A Reason For The War

Class 84: Most Important Measure of Model Goodness

There Is No Solution To Crashing Fertility: Good Times Made Soft Men

Did The Pope Really Say Health Is A “Right”?

All Models Only Say What They Are Told To Say, And AI Is A Model

It’s The End Of The World Again

Belgian Judge Wants To Arrest Little Nate Cofnast Because Cofnast Says Smart People Are Smarter Than Dumb People

Class 83: Why Were Paul Ehrlich’s Predictions So Good (and so Bad)?

Class 88: The Most Neglected Concept: Skill

The Red-Blue Button Dilemma & Its Surprising Answer

Doctors At NEJM Release Important New Statement: Do Not Get Sick

How The Laws Of Physics Lie

On Why That “In Defense of Merit in Science” Paper Will Fail In Its Worthy Goal

The Less You Know About Climate, The More You Cry About Climate

Why The Inexorable Increase In The Expertocracy: Examples

There Is No Problem Of Old Evidence In Bayesian Probability

What Are Your Best Theories For Carlson, Bongino, Lemon Firings?

Virtue Signaling Proves Why Science Is Broken

There Is No Culture Without Inequality: Stove 1

Impose Your Beliefs Before They Impose Theirs

Telekinesis: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification

The Physics Of Blessings: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification