Books
Books that I have written.
Media Appearances
Podcasts and Videos in which I have appeared or which I have created.
pyndamics3
Dynamical systems simulation in Python. Includes both continuous and stochastic simulation.
Stats for Everyone
An introductory stats book from a Bayesian perspective, including Python software.
I am a Scientist, Skeptic, and Professor at Bryant University. My goal is to make technical subject matters widely accessible and to use my analytical and computational skills to assist anyone with their science-related problems.
Blog
Can you guess my sign? Testing Astrology
A friend of mine who is interested in astrology claims that he can determine my astrological sign from some simple questions, and knowing me for years (although not knowing my …
#articles
Even if determinism were true it wouldn't matter
Introduction
There is a great paper Thermal noise and the emergence of the arrow of time: A simple model that illustrates the notion of the role of uncertainty in the …
#articles
Free Will On My Mind
Usually when thinking about free will my thoughts run in circles. However the recent talks by Sean Carroll were some of the clearest exposition on the topic. In summary we …
#articles
Jaynes vs Gelman Bayes for Messy Data
I copied a comment on my old site, and am replying to it here. It is a fantastically interesting question, which I have been enjoying thinking about.
It refers to …
#articles
Probability Does Extend Logic
In the article Probability theory does not extend logic David Chapman, the author, criticizes the claim that probability theory generalizes logic to cases with uncertainty. He is particularly scornful of …
#articles
Mapping Worldview to Probability
I've heard many times (see here and here, for examples) the objection from apologists that certain claims (i.e. supernatural events, miracles, etc…) are ruled either impossible or highly unlikely …
#articles
Is Science a Self-Sealing Process?
In 1969, NASA faked the moon landing - there was a huge conspiracy to cover up the facts that the landing was actually filmed in Hollywood. Well, that's what the conspiracy …
#articles
What Makes an Explanation Bad? When it's easy to vary
In David Deutsch's TED Talk he describes what makes good and bad explanations. In particular he outlines what makes scientific explanations good ones whereas mythological ones bad. Many people claim …
#articles
Laplace and Twins Why Bayes is still right
From this paper,
http://statweb.stanford.edu/~ckirby/brad/other/2013Perspective.pdf
we have the following text:
“Controversial theorem” sounds like an oxymoron, but Bayes’ Rule has played this part …
#articles
Student Course Evaluations What should a professor do?
I’m always interested in the process of evaluation, especially for professors. It is common to have student evaluations performed at the end of the semester, and there are endless …
#articles
Philosophy and Science or why I'm not a philosopher
I was listening to the Dogma Debate episode “Does God Really Love You?” with Blake Giunta, and was really struck by the structure of the discussion. I have dealt with …
#articles
Incompetence or Nervousness? defending your claims
I’ve been seeing a lot of talk about the supposedly incompetent response by “accident reconstruction expert”, as shown in this video. You can read one response in the opinion …
#articles
Argument is Not Evidence
So the Mr. Deity video, part two of his new series has an interesting point. The point is that arguments are not evidence. He says that in all of the …
#articles
Happy New Year! A Time for New Beginnings
I love the idea of New Year’s Day. It’s a time for reflection, contemplation, self improvement. I realize that it is technically just another day, and that one …
#articles
End of a long semester
So, I've been off the blog because of new job duties that overwhelmed me for a while. I enjoy the new year as a way of starting again, clean slate …
#articles
Disagreeing with Neil deGrasse Tyson and some spoilers for Interstellar
I was reading a list of things Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn't understand about Interstellar and was reminded about some of the things I don't like about Neil deGrasse Tyson. Let …
#articles
Answering Unanswerable Questions Reframing and Moving Beyond Implications
Introduction
There are a number of questions designed specifically to not have answers or statements designed to be imponderable. Some of them actually do have answers, it seems, when you …
#articles
The Giunta-Dillahunty debate In the End it's just Magic
I was listening to the Giunta-Dillahunty debate, "Does God Exist?", and the subsequent appearance of these two on the Dogma Debate show and felt there was enough there that required …
#articles
Deduction, Induction, and Abduction, Oh My! A Tour of Needless Philosophical Terms
As a scientist, I don't typically hold philosophy in that high regard. It has its uses, but can easily devolve into a word game with no real substance. My basic …
#articles
Evidence vs Argument
I was listening to the Giunta-Dillahunty debate, "Does God Exist?", and the subsequent appearance of these two on the Dogma Debate show, and was struck by the structure of the …
#articles
Pluto, Pluto, Here We Come
In anticipation of the New Horizons close flyby of Pluto in a little over a week on July 14, 2015, I read with interest the article "Calculating Pluto’s Mass …
#articles
