Posted inStatistics
How Many Geniuses Are There?
This post originally appeared 15 September 2008. Here is a question I often give on exams: What is the probability that the next child to be born will be a…
Posted inFun Statistics
The Probability of Monkeys Typing Shakespeare
This article, which originally appeared 20 May 2010, was inspired by reading Fredwin On Evolution, as wisely suggested by reader Bob Ludwick. At the bottom of Fred's piece, there appears…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Dutch Book: Or, How to Gamble
This post first appeared sometime before 2012, but I lost the original date due to the hacking. If you are a gambler, you'll be delighted to learn that there is…
Posted inStatistics
Poem Codes
This post originally ran 2 September 2009. My favorite joke: Two cannibals are eating a clown and one says to the other, "qbrf guvf gnfgr shaal gb lbh?" Ha ha!…
Posted inStatistics
Gene Editing: What Could Go Wrong?
Headline: Big Tongues and Extra Vertebrae: The Unintended Consequences of Animal Gene Editing: Unintended consequences have included enlarged rabbit tongues and extra pig vertebrae, as bioethicists warn of hubris Scientists…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Probability Of Abiogenesis? There Isn’t One
Remember before when we agreed nothing has a probability? Bully. So if no thing has a probability, neither does abiogenesis, since abiogenesis is a thing. Since abiogenesis is a thing…
Posted inStatistics
Strong AI From Ping Pong Balls
https://twitter.com/ThingsWork/status/1051219022988173312 If you can't see the tweet above, click here. Practitioners of Strong AI believe that if we string enough of these ping-pong (or marble) machines together, rationality will emerge.…
Posted inStatistics
Ladies & Gentlemen, We Are Losing
There are many stories, but this one is as good as any other. Long-time school teacher Peter Vlaming was fired for saying these words: "Don't let her run into the…