My guest this week is Brian Blais, professor at Bryant University and IBNS, Brown University. He is the author of A Measure of Faith – Probability in Religious Thought and Statistical Inference For Everyone. Brian is an expert in Bayes’ Theorem and how it applies to philosophy, theology, and apologetics. In this episode, I take the restraints off myself and express the reasons why I think apologetics is faulty. Brian is the perfect guest for this. We bounce ideas off one another to articulate good epistemology. We discuss how mathematics and Bayes can be abused by injecting unstated information which changes the probabilities and ultimately the conclusions one comes to. We also discuss how beliefs have consequences. The current rash of conspiracy theories has had real-world effects. Brian explains how decision theory can be used to make difficult choices. Links Brian’s website https://bblais.github.io/ Twitter https://twitter.com/bblais Statistical Inference For Everyone (Free Version) https://bblais.github.io/posts/2019/Jan/14/stats-for-everyone/ Amazon Version https://amzn.to/2O2onzQ A Measure of Faith: Probability in Religious Thought https://amzn.to/37QzEKt Bayes’ Theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayes%27_theorem The Monty Hall Problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem Interact Full Show Notes https://gracefulatheist.com/2021/02/28/brian-blais-bayes-vs-apologetics/ Deconversion How To https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/ Critique of Apologetics https://gracefulatheist.com/critique-of-apologetics/ Apologetics Epistemology and Moving On https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/10/02/apologetics-epistemology-and-moving-on/ Previous episodes referred to in this episode https://gracefulatheist.com/2020/10/04/randal-rauser-conversation-with-my-inner-atheist/ https://gracefulatheist.com/2020/11/01/ian-mills-new-testament-review/ https://gracefulatheist.com/2020/11/15/barrett-evans-the-contemplative-skeptic/ Attribution Transition Music and Dawg Biscuits on the moon John Monson and the Brothers Galaxy "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Makaih_Beats  Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gracefulatheist/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gracefulatheist/support