A brief followup to my video/article on the rationality of conspiracy theories. It is a common belief among intellectuals that “conspiracy theories” are inherently irrational or so unlikely as to be essentially inherently irrational. About 5-10 percent of “serial killer” cases involve murders committed by two or more people, a conspiracy. This is a quick and partial check on the official 14.7 percent of all murders in 2019 committed by multiple offenders, a conspiracy, according to the US FBI. Official numbers, including FBI and DOJ numbers, have been found to be misleading in a number of cases — hence independent checks are warranted.
Please watch and subscribe if you want to follow our videos on one or more free speech video sites and not YouTube, due to the heavy and growing censorship by YouTube.
Subscribe to our free Weekly Newsletter for articles and videos on practical mathematics, Internet Censorship, ways to fight back against censorship, and other topics by sending an email to: subscribe [at] mathematical-software.com
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
A brief followup to my article on the rationality of conspiracy theories.
A high fraction of events where the phrase “conspiracy theory” is used to stigmatize suspicions of a criminal conspiracy are murders such as the assassination of President Kennedy or possible murders such as the suspicious “suicide” of Jeffrey Epstein. According to official FBI statistics about 14.7 percent of murders in 2019 were committed by multiple offenders, the common usage meaning of conspiracy. About twenty-seven (27) percent of murders in 2019, almost one third, were unsolved. Unsolved murders tend to be gang violence/organized crime murders, that is conspiracies that could not be proven.
FBI Murders by Offender Type in 2019
Some Murder Conspiracy Charges and Convictions from a DuckDuckGo search on August 29, 2021
10 charged with murder, conspiracy in fatal shooting of 12-year-old Todriana Peters
BY RAMON ANTONIO VARGAS | Staff writer Published Aug 26, 2021 at 4:01 pm | Updated Aug 26, 2021 at 4:55 pm
Less than three months after a hail of bullets outside a graduation party cut down a 12-year-old girl and wounded two others, Orleans Parish prosecutors have filed felony charges against 10 men suspected of having a hand in the deadly Memorial Day weekend ambush.
Bronx Man Convicted Of Murder, Robbery, And Drug Trafficking Offenses
Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that a jury returned a guilty verdict Friday against KASHEEN SAMUELS, a/k/a “Kash,” a/k/a “JR,” on five counts, including charges relating to the felony murder of Andrew Torres during an armed robbery, as well as other charges relating to robbery, robbery conspiracy, and narcotics conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos presided over the 9-day trial.
Man Convicted in Murder Linked to Mexican Mafia That San Diego Sheriff Helped Probe
by City News Service July 2, 2021
A jury has convicted a 24-year-old man for his role in the killing of a drug dealer in Placentia, an attack allegedly ordered by the head of a branch of the Mexican Mafia.
The 2017 fatal shooting, which San Diego County Sheriff’s investigators helped probe, resulted in the death of Robert Rios, 35.
Augustine Velazquez was convicted of murder, conspiracy, burglary and attempted robbery Wednesday in the killing.
Two New Jersey mobsters trying to overturn 1989 conviction for John Gotti murder plot By DiMaiolo Santolo May 17, 2021
Two New Jersey mobsters trying to overturn 1989 conviction for John Gotti murder plot
Two aging New Jersey mobsters, who federal judges have denied to release from prison during the coronavirus pandemic, are now alleging their decades-old convictions for plotting to murder John Gotti and ordering the hit on a New York businessman should be overturned.
Attorneys for Louis “Bobby” Manna and Richard DeSciscio, who have both been incarcerated since 1989, said they filed motions in federal court this week outlining how cases that put the two members of the Genovese Crime Family behind bars was full of prosecutorial misconduct.
Long-Time Leader of Violent Grape Street Crips Street Gang and Two Members Convicted of Racketeering Conspiracy Leader’s Orders Resulted in Four Murders and an Attempted Murder
NEWARK, N.J. – Three members of the New Jersey set of the violent street gang “Grape Street Crips” – including its long-time leader – were convicted by a federal jury today of racketeering conspiracy and a host of murders, shootings, and drug trafficking crimes, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito, FBI Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie and DEA Special Agent in Charge Valerie A. Nickerson announced.
The leader of the enterprise, Corey Hamlet, a/k/a “C-Blaze,” a/k/a “Blaze,” a/k/a “Blizzie,” a/k/a “Castor Troy,” 41, of Belleville, New Jersey; and associates Tony Phillips, a/k/a “Blue,” 27, of Newark; and Ahmad Manley, a/k/a “Fresh,” a/k/a “Moddi G,” 32, of Summit, New Jersey, were convicted following a two-month trial before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark federal court. The jury deliberated for four days before returning the verdicts. (A chart outlining the counts per defendant and maximum potential penalties is attached below.)
Yonkers Gang Leader Convicted in Federal Court of Racketeering Charges, Murder, Conspiracy to Murder, Attempted Murder, Narcotics, and Firearms Offenses U.S. Attorney’s Office July 01, 2013
Southern District of New York (212) 637-2600
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Steven Knowles, 25, was convicted today in White Plains of various racketeering charges, murder, conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, narcotics conspiracy, and firearms offenses following a four-week jury trial before the U.S. District Judge Kenneth M Karas. The jury convicted Knowles of charges arising out of his involvement, from 2000 through 2013, in the criminal activities of the Elm Street Wolves gang (the Wolves)—a violent street gang that was involved in drug trafficking and multiple acts of violence, including murder and attempted murder, in Yonkers, New York.
Court affirms conviction of Pagan biker who helped plot radio host’s murder Updated: Apr. 27, 2021, 12:39 a.m. | Published: Apr. 26, 2021, 10:05 p.m.
The New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division affirmed the the 2018 conviction of a Pagan biker who plotted the murder of popular radio host April Kauffman in order to protect a pill-dealing scheme he had set up with her husband, authorities said.
Three judges handed down the ruling on April 20 that the trial of Ferdinand ‘Freddy’ Augello, 65, of Petersburg, was fair and impartial, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office announced Monday.
Augello was found guilty on Oct. 2, 2018 of murder, murder conspiracy, racketeering and drug charges after only a few hours of jury deliberations.
Fourteen Alleged Members of “Babiiez” Gang Charged in 81-Count Conspiracy Indictment That Includes 11 Shootings Flatbush-based Gang is Alleged Subset of Insane Crip Gangsta Nine Handguns Were Recovered During the Course of the Investigation
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, together with New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, today announced that 14 alleged members of the Babiiez street gang are variously charged in an 81-count indictment with conspiracy to commit murder, possess weapons and related charges. The indictment includes charges related to 11 shootings that resulted in eight victims – six of whom were alleged rival gang members and two men who were not rivals.
These are a few examples of arguably solved murders committed by conspiracies.
(C) 2021 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.
About Me
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
The belief common among intellectuals that “conspiracy theories” are inherently irrational or so unlikely as to be essentially inherently irrational is demonstrably false.
Subscribe to our free Weekly Newsletter for articles and videos on practical mathematics, Internet Censorship, ways to fight back against censorship, and other topics by sending an email to: subscribe [at] mathematical-software.com
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
The belief common among intellectuals that “conspiracy theories” are inherently irrational or so unlikely as to be essentially inherently irrational is demonstrably false.
Merriam Webster defines conspiracy as “the act of conspiring together” and conspiring as “to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or an act which becomes unlawful as a result of the secret agreement.” The dictionary gives a range of word meanings for “theory” including “a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation” which comes closest to the way “theory” is used in the phrase “conspiracy theory.”
The phrase “conspiracy theory” is used most often to mean “totally crazy conspiracy theory” or “conspiracy theory highly contradicted by the evidence” instead of the dictionary meaning of “conspiracy theory.” The phrase is often paired with “conspiracy theorist” and assertions that the conspiracy theory has been “debunked.” It is sometimes paired with the phrases “denier,” “denialism,” and “pseudoscience.” For example, “COVID denier” or “AIDS denier.”
“Conspiracy theory” is usually invoked to attack theories, evidence of misconduct, evidence of conflicts of interests, and even evidence of simple mistakes by authority figures in the group or groups — ethnic, professional, political, social — that the author identifies with or belongs to. In some case the author or authors using the phrase “conspiracy theory” are the subjects of the suspicions or evidence: https://thebulletin.org/2021/08/how-covid-19s-origins-were-obscured-by-the-east-and-the-west/.
“Conspiracy theory” is often invoked in discussions of murders or possible murders (suspicious “suicides” such as Jeffrey Epstein, accidents etc.) such as the assassination of President Kennedy or mass killings with actual or potential large scale political or economic consequences such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. A high percentage of “conspiracy theories” involve assassinations, mass killings, and other murders or possible murders. These include the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, his brother Robert Kennedy in 1968, Martin Luther King in 1968, Malcolm X in 1965, US Senator Huey Long in 1934, the mysterious crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996, the Columbine mass school shooting in 1999, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the anthrax attacks just after the September 11 attacks in 2001 blamed on Bruce Ivins, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Conspiracy theory” is often paired with the explicit or implicit argument that “someone would have talked” and that an actual conspiracy could not keep its activities sufficiently secret to avoid prosecution or successfully organize a group, often implied to be large, of people covertly.
If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for such misdemeanor.
Some recent conspiracy convictions found with the DuckDuckGo search engine on August 23, 2021:
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s homicide statistics for 2019 attribute 14.7 percent of the total 13,927 murders that year to “multiple offenders,” meaning a conspiracy in common usage even if the case does not meet the legal definition of conspiracy or conspiracy was not charged for some other reason.
The same table attributes 27.8% of these murders to an unknown offender or offenders. This is particulary significant because a high proportion of unsolved murders in the United States are attributed to “gang violence” or “organized crime,” meaning a conspiracy in common usage.
UPDATE: August 29, 2021
See, for example:
Chen, Elsa Y. “Victim and Witness Intimidation.” Encyclopedia of Race and Crime. Editors Helen Taylor Greene and Shaun L. Gabbidon. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications (2009)
Community-wide implicit victim and witness intimidation has become particularly severe and widespread in neighborhoods dominated by gangs and drugs, including many predominantly African American and Latina/o inner-city areas. Asian gangs also engage in intimidation. A well-known example of implicit intimidation is a grassroots campaign known as “Stop Snitchin’,” which began in Baltimore around 2004 and quickly spread to other urban areas by several means, including CDs and DVDs, websites, T -shirts, and rap lyrics. The movement’s purpose is to urge community members not to cooperate with criminal justice authorities, and to remind them that “snitches wear stitches.” Gang members have appeared in courtrooms wearing Stop Snitchin’ T -shirts, provoking efforts to ban the shirts by judges and political officials. The success of the Stop Snitchin’ movement can be attributed in part to some community members’ anger regarding the high rate of incarceration among minority men, frustration over criminal justice authorities’ use of informants from the community and jails or prisons to facilitate the prosecution and incarceration process, and general mistrust of law enforcement officials, who often do not provide adequate protection for those who do cooperate and sometimes reward unreliable informants with leniency in prosecution or sentencing. The Stop Snitchin’ mantra is redolent of the Italian Mafia’s centuries- old code known as omerta, an oath of silence prohibiting cooperation with the authorities under any circumstances.
The culture and attitudes surrounding rap and hip hop music have perpetuated the practice of victim and witness intimidation and the implicit code of silence . Some well-known rap artists have refused to cooperate in criminal cases in which they or their friends or members of their entourages were victims or suspects. Other popular rappers have produced songs urging listeners not to speak with the police. The murders of several rap and hip hop stars, including Tupac Shakur, the Notorious B.I.G., and Jam Master Jay from Run D.M.C., remain unsolved because of witnesses’ unwillingness to violate the “code of the street” by speaking to the police or testifying in court.
END UPDATE
“Over 1,000 victims, 126 dead, just 2 convictions: 6 years of mass shootings in Chicago” By Tom Schuba and Andy Grimm, August 2, 201, Chicago Sun Times
Online searches for gang violence and unsolved murders often turn up articles and official reports using the phrases “gun violence” and emphasizing the race of both victims and suspected perpetrators of unsolved murders, usually in so-called “inner city” neighborhoods. Nonetheless careful reading show these articles and reports are talking about unsolved gang murders often involving drugs or other illegal activities: criminal conspiracies.
Some Famous (or Infamous) Unsolved “Organized Crime” Murders
Arnold Rothstein — November 6, 1928 — reputed prohibition era mob boss and “mentor” of Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Meyer Lanksy, and other famous mobsters. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel — June 20, 1947 — close associate of Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky Albert Anastasia — October 25, 1957 — alleged mob boss and head of “Murder Inc.” “Sam” Giancana — June 19, 1975 — alleged second in command of the Chicago Mob “Johnny” Roselli — August 9, 1976 — alleged top figure in the Chicago Mob Jimmy Hoffa — Teamsters Union Boss, disappeared July 30, 1975, declared dead July 30, 1982 John Favara — disappeared July 28, 1980, declared dead 1983, neighbor who disappeared after a car accident that killed mob boss John Gotti’s 12 year old son Frank Gotti. Favara was the driver of the car.
The history of organized crime in the United States is replete with many more unsolved murders and disappearances. In fact, people often don’t talk — at least not under oath in a court of law — and innocent witnesses often keep silent fearing retaliation from organized crime groups — conspiracies. Circumstantial evidence, suspicions, and rumors abound as is the case with murders such as the assassination of President Kennedy where the phrase “conspiracy theory” is invoked to ridicule and stigmatize those same sort of circumstantial evidence, suspicions, and rumors.
The empirical data from murder statistics and the history of murders is that criminal conspiracies are common — at least fourteen (14) percent of murders — and often escape successful prosecution. A high fraction of events where the phrase “conspiracy theory” is used to ridicule and stigmatize suspicions or even evidence of a conspiracy are also murders or possible murders: political assassinations, terrorists incidents, mass killings, suspicious accidents and suicides.
Are there high level international conspiracies?
High level international criminal conspiracies involving seemingly independent and even competing groups such as companies have been demonstrated in court in a number of cases.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Pfizer (yes the COVID vaccine company), and several other companies in Japan and Korea engaged in an illegal criminal conspiracy to fix the price of citric acid — a key ingredient of Coca-Cola and other sodas — and other food additives such as lysine in the 1990’s, probably beginning in the 1980’s or earlier. At this time, ADM and Pfizer dominated world production and sales of citric acid, an important and lucrative product due to its key rol in Coca-Cola and other sodas.
“Archer Executive Testifies to Fixing Citric Acid Prices” by Kurt Eichenwald, New York Times, August 13, 1998
“The Informant: A True Story” by Kurt Eichenwald, Crown, October 15, 2001
Rats in the Grain: The Dirty Tricks and Trials of Archer Daniels Midland, the Supermarket to the World, by James B. Lieber, Basic Books, January 10, 2002
Antitrust investigations have demonstrated several cases of international price fixing cartels for various products. Some price fixing arrangements are open agreements such as OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and the proration of oil production in Texas by the Texas Railroad Commission. https://rrc.texas.gov/about-us/rrc-history/
Governments can and do provide cover, sanction, and legitimacy for price fixing arrangements that would be illegal and criminal otherwise.
Do Cartels Get Away with Illegal Price Fixing Agreements?
Some would argue that because ADM, Pfizer, and the other conspirators were caught, they did not get away with the crime and this somehow proves no one is able to get away with a criminal conspiracy. This, of course, is demonstrably not true for unsolved murders. In contrast to murders, where the crime is usually clear due to a dead body and signs of violence, proving a rise in prices is a crime — is due to a criminal conspiracy is inherently difficult.
There are a number of cases of mysterious increases in the price of various products and services, circumstantial evidence of price fixing and collusion as defined in antitrust law. A notable recent example is the remarkable increase in the price of insulin, a product produced in vats using well established genetically engineered bacteria. There is no obvious shortage of a key ingredient or other explanation.
Conspiracy theories are rational in many cases. Historical data on unsolved murders demonstrates that proving a conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt is difficult however. Criminal conspiracies are NOT like laboratory experiments or astronomical observations. The belief common among intellectuals that “conspiracy theories” are inherently irrational or so unlikely as to be essentially inherently irrational is demonstrably false.
(C) 2021 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.
About Me
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Short video on Afghanistan, the abiogenic oil hypothesis, and the remarkable failure of the US to build a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean despite spending at least one trillion dollars and twenty (20) years of military occupation of the country — a pipeline that would be a win win proposition for just about everyone! Incompetence or a hidden agenda to boost world energy prices?
Subscribe to our free Weekly Newsletter for articles and videos on practical mathematics, Internet Censorship, ways to fight back against censorship, and other topics by sending an email to: subscribe [at] mathematical-software.com
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Short video reciting the two most famous paragraphs from Frederick Douglass’s most famous speech. Gives some context about the speech before the passage. Frederick Douglass was the leading Black American abolitionist of the 1800’s and also the most photographed American of his time with 160 surviving photographs.
Subscribe to our free Weekly Newsletter for articles and videos on practical mathematics, Internet Censorship, ways to fight back against censorship, and other topics by sending an email to: subscribe [at] mathematical-software.com
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
It is rational to suspect a conspiracy in some situations. Conspiracies are difficult to prove and difficult to disprove. Proving a conspiracy usually requires a confession by someone in the conspiracy or evidence such as surveillance audio, video, or documents such as a duplicate set of books in an accounting fraud or a diary. People involved in criminal conspiracies who confess are, almost by definition, unreliable witnesses and can often be called into question because of their admitted moral character.
Disproving a conspiracy is usually very difficult, simply because we generally lack reliable 24/7 surveillance of the alleged conspirators. Specific conspiracy scenarios can be ruled out but it is often impossible to comprehensively rule out all plausible scenarios. Thus, it is often necessary to accept a high level of uncertainty in situations where a conspiracy may be involved; even with a high degree of suspicion, certainty beyond a reasonable doubt is often not possible.
What does historical data show about the frequency of conspiracies and how frequently do they elude discovery? These are some numbers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
US FBI Homicides by Victim/Offender Situations for 2017 (Screenshot on Feb. 10, 2021)
The FBI reported a total of 15,129 homicides in 2017, the most recent year for which I was able to locate statistics. Of these, 1,781 involved a single victim and multiple offenders — a conspiracy. Three-hundred (300) involved multiple victims and multiple offenders — a conspiracy. Thus, a total of 2,081 or 13.76 percent involved a conspiracy.
Note that the table lists 5,174 (461 + 4,713) or 34.2 percent with an unknown offender or offenders, presumably unsolved. Thus, a substantial number of murder conspiracies avoid detection and prosecution.
The FBI also gives clearance data for 2017 indicating about 38.4 percent of homicides are unsolved. Note that this seems inconsistent with the 34.2 percent number implied by the Homicides by Victim/Offender Situation table above. The meaning of “clearance” is the subject of some controversy and has different definitions in different crime statistics.
US FBI Report on Crime Clearance Rates in 2017 (Screenshot on Feb. 10, 2021)
The history of investigations into organized crime where conspiracies have frequently been proven in a court of law includes numerous unsolved murders and disappearances including such famous cases as the murder of reputed mob boss Arnold Rothstein in 1928, the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa in 1975, the murder of alleged Chicago mob boss “Sam” Giancana in 1975, and many others.
Thus conspiracies do happen and it is rational to suspect them in some situations. The FBI data indicates conspiracies are involved in about 13.76 percent of murders in the US.
(C) 2021 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.
About Me
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
A video on how to approach expert advice, recommendations, and sometimes orders. In a nutshell we should respect expertise, seek out expert advice and guidance, but evaluate the advice critically and not assume it is correct or infallible — or nearly so. There are many historical examples of experts, both individually and collectively, being quite wrong, even remarkably or laughably wrong. I discuss the at least thirty-five (35) drugs that were FDA approved and subsequently withdrawn over safety and effectiveness problems, with a focus on Merck’s blockbuster Vioxx painkiller, a small subset of known examples in medicine and health.
A short video about the central role of the eugenics movement in the development of modern statistics by Karl Pearson, Ronald Fisher, and their colleagues.
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
