Chris Ferrie

@csferrie.com

865 Followers 580 Following

Work: quantum learning and control. Play: writing words and code. #1 best-selling science author for kids. https://csferrie.com

Cover of upcoming book, Uranus is Full of Gas by Chris Ferrie. Depicts an anthropomorphized version of the planet.
Screenshot of user asking for an app to highlight US states by containing letter. The AI obliged.
Curvature in the likelihood is apparent from the fact that the number of ways that you could have seen what you actually have seen varies across the rows. The “always taker, always taker” row produces the actual observed data in two out of the two possible randomization outcomes. The value of the likelihood is 1. In the remaining three rows, the observed data only occurs under one of the two randomization outcomes, so the value of the likelihood for these rows is 0.5. Paraphrasing the board book “Statistical Physics for Babies” (Ferrie, 2017), which provides style inspiration for our illustrations, physicists refer to the number of ways that you could have seen what you have seen—that is, the numerator of our likelihood—as entropy. Differences in entropy yield curvature in the likelihood.
Banner advert for the event featuring a ten-year-old glamour shot of Chris that he refuses to update. It notes the date 8 July and location, State Library of WA. Ticket price is $15.
A blue sign titled “Rainbow Bridge Reflection Seat” with a rainbow and clouds illustration. Text invites people to place their pet’s collar on a pole as a tribute to their pet’s joy, love, and loyalty. It describes the space as a quiet place to remember “our four-legged friends.” At the bottom, there are photos of Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Councillor Penny Wolff, along with the Brisbane City Council logo.
A 3×3 grid of black-and-white dot plots showing simulated family data for the Boy-or-Girl paradox under four filtering scenarios. Each plot is a 7×2 grid (columns = days of the week; rows = child order, older on top). Each dot represents a child—black for boys, white for girls. Grey lines connect siblings. Top row: Classic “at least one boy” scenario: all families → filter for ≥1 boy → filter for both boys. Middle row: “Older child is a boy”: all families → filter for older = boy → both boys. Bottom row: “Randomly selected child is a boy”: all families → filter for sampled boy → both boys. Each row’s final panel highlights the number of families that satisfy all conditions (e.g. “keep 5”). Faded dots and lines indicate families excluded by previous filters.
Audiobook cover of Cosmic Bullsh*t by Chris Ferrie.
Screengrab of "The Universe as a Black Hole" published in Nature 240, 298 (1972).
A copy of Cosmic Bullsh*t next to an ARSE (Australian Research and Space Exploration) mug.
"We don’t currently have the option to plug in a laptop from the stage. We would be able to plug in a laptop from the tech desk at the side of the room, would that work for you?"
"I have long admired your work, and my two-year-old daughter absolutely loves your books! Reading them with her has reinforced my belief that children's literature is one of the most powerful tools for science communication. The way these books distill complex ideas into simple, engaging narratives feels like information processing in its perfect state, compression without loss of meaning, delivered in the most intuitive way possible."
A photo inside a shopping centre showing 6 stores, 3 of which are optometrists.
Depiction of the Monty Hall Problem. Three doors. One is open with a goat.
Screenshot of @chrisferrie.bsky.social account
A 2D graph with two labeled axes and colored blobs representing different categories of ideas and individuals in science. The X-axis is labeled "Perceived Usefulness," ranging from "Uninspired" on the left to "Grandiose" on the right. The Y-axis is labeled "Actual Rigor/Usefulness," ranging from "Baseless" at the bottom to "Grounded" at the top. The top right quadrant (Grounded + Grandiose) is labeled "Visionary Work" with a small green blob. The bottom right quadrant (Baseless + Grandiose) is labeled "True Crackpots" in red, with "viXra authors" and "Academic cranks" also noted nearby. A humorous label, "You know who," is placed near this region. The bottom left quadrant (Baseless + Uninspired) is labeled "Casual Pseudoscience" with a purple blob and an annotation for "Sci-fi script writers." The top left quadrant (Grounded + Uninspired) contains a large blue blob labeled "Most Science" with an annotation for "PhD students." Additional notes include "Tenured faculty" near the bottom right and "Retired engineers" closer to the crackpot region. The graph humorously maps categories of ideas and their originators across perceived and actual rigor/usefulness, distinguishing speculative but rigorous work from unsupported and overconfident ideas, playful pseudoscience, and conventional science.
Australian DST timezone map