Status update 5/25/2016 Do rich people deserve their riches? Do poor people deserve their poverty or criminals their punishment? Is inequality a problem that needs to be solved? Inequality of what, exactly? For the past few weeks I've been obsessed with the idea that we're thinking about these things in an entirely wrong fashion. Not … Continue reading Brain Rewiring in Process
Author: Jacob Falkovich
I tried to be a magazine writer, mathematician, and stand up comedian. Now I just write a blog with math and jokes.
Are you having trouble navigating a complex, mathematical universe using a squishy, easily fooled monkey brain? So are we! But we also have something that may help.
Can money buy happiness? Of course! Just follow a few principles and a simple formula, and when in doubt: buy good soap.
Putanumonit has raised more than $8,000 for a trial of basic income in Africa, including reader donations and my own matching.
A research project is going to help the world's poorest people and test a revolutionary approach to solving poverty, so you and I are going to donate a bunch of money to make it a success.
A quick estimate of experimental power can discern good science from bullshit. Too bad that some scientists forget to do it themselves.
How my friends and I created our own currency and turned the delegation of chores into a fun mini-economy.
Are Nice Guys just guys who are nice? If so, why can't they get a date and what can a BDSM class teach them? And what does this all have to do with bell curves?
Applying the central limit theorem to figure out who votes for Trump and Bernie.
What's worse, the hot hand fallacy or the fallacies committed by scientists researching hot hands?
Is dating a game? It is if I can apply some game theory to figure it out.
In order to get 99% match percentages on OkCupid you can launch a crazy machine learning project, or you can follow a few simple tips.
The prop betting game that will make your Super Bowl party unforgettable regardless of whether you give a crap about football.
My journey to finding love using science and data. Part 1 - how to own online dating.
Can you guess the candidate?
When you're trailing in a game, the best move usually requires sacrificing expectation for variance. Remarkably, coaches in both the NBA and NFL fail at applying basic math.
Some housekeeping notes and figuring out what the jackpot has to be for a positive-value lottery.
On the eve of Powerball mania, some advice on making the most of lotteries (whether you play or not) using the power of math and optimism.
An evil spell is making everybody you know ignorant, hateful and irrational. Can you break it?
I analyze a statistics chart that manages to conclude the opposite of what the data says by making every possible error.
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