Abhishek Roy
@abhishekr0y.bsky.social
Trust & Safety Research @ Google focused on Deception & Manipulation
Creator, bescamready.withgoogle.com/
Prev: Disinfo/Extremism Research
Creator, bescamready.withgoogle.com/
Prev: Disinfo/Extremism Research
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
This Media Literacy Week, I’m highlighting three research-backed habits that help us stay grounded and think clearly online:
🧠 Critical ignoring
💡 Actively open-minded thinking
🔍 Lateral reading
matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/three-medi...
🧠 Critical ignoring
💡 Actively open-minded thinking
🔍 Lateral reading
matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/three-medi...
Three Media Literacy Must-Haves
Critical ignoring, open-minded thinking, and lateral reading are essential skills for navigating today’s information chaos.
matthewfacciani.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 10:19 PM
This Media Literacy Week, I’m highlighting three research-backed habits that help us stay grounded and think clearly online:
🧠 Critical ignoring
💡 Actively open-minded thinking
🔍 Lateral reading
matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/three-medi...
🧠 Critical ignoring
💡 Actively open-minded thinking
🔍 Lateral reading
matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/three-medi...
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
While there’s a lot of focus on young people and screen time, a new British study found that adults over 65 spend more than three hours a day on smartphones, computers, and tablets. When TV is included, older adults actually log *more daily screen time* than young adults.
Meet the real screen addicts: the elderly
The digital habits that defined youth are transforming old age
www.economist.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM
While there’s a lot of focus on young people and screen time, a new British study found that adults over 65 spend more than three hours a day on smartphones, computers, and tablets. When TV is included, older adults actually log *more daily screen time* than young adults.
Is misinformation a virus or a weapon?
Analogies have galvanized important conversations, but what new avenues emerge when we integrate these views into a multi-level complexity informed system?
Read our paper in npj Complexity
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Analogies have galvanized important conversations, but what new avenues emerge when we integrate these views into a multi-level complexity informed system?
Read our paper in npj Complexity
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
The complexity of misinformation extends beyond virus and warfare analogies - npj Complexity
npj Complexity - The complexity of misinformation extends beyond virus and warfare analogies
www.nature.com
October 8, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Is misinformation a virus or a weapon?
Analogies have galvanized important conversations, but what new avenues emerge when we integrate these views into a multi-level complexity informed system?
Read our paper in npj Complexity
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Analogies have galvanized important conversations, but what new avenues emerge when we integrate these views into a multi-level complexity informed system?
Read our paper in npj Complexity
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
In an attempt to work more effectively, we’ve accidentally deployed an inhumane way to collaborate.
E-mail Is Making Us Miserable
In an attempt to work more effectively, we’ve accidentally deployed an inhumane way to collaborate.
www.newyorker.com
August 13, 2025 at 12:47 AM
In an attempt to work more effectively, we’ve accidentally deployed an inhumane way to collaborate.
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
How did 3M’s “forever chemicals” end up in all of us? The inside story of the corporate scientists who discovered—then helped to conceal—the dangers of its chemicals.
How 3M Discovered, Then Concealed, the Dangers of Forever Chemicals
The company found its own toxic compounds in human blood—and kept selling them.
www.newyorker.com
August 11, 2025 at 5:06 PM
How did 3M’s “forever chemicals” end up in all of us? The inside story of the corporate scientists who discovered—then helped to conceal—the dangers of its chemicals.
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
Our new piece in Nature Machine Intelligence: LLMs are replacing human participants, but can they simulate diverse respondents? Surveys use representative sampling for a reason, and our work shows how LLM training prevents accurate simulation of different human identities.
February 17, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Our new piece in Nature Machine Intelligence: LLMs are replacing human participants, but can they simulate diverse respondents? Surveys use representative sampling for a reason, and our work shows how LLM training prevents accurate simulation of different human identities.
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
This excellent interactive tutorial on misleading data visualizations explores the idea of a "counter chart" — the graph you draw in response to refute a misleading claims
flowingdata.com/projects/dis...
flowingdata.com/projects/dis...
Defense Against Dishonest Charts
This is a guide to protect ourselves and to preserve what is good about turning data into visual things.
flowingdata.com
February 15, 2025 at 6:48 AM
This excellent interactive tutorial on misleading data visualizations explores the idea of a "counter chart" — the graph you draw in response to refute a misleading claims
flowingdata.com/projects/dis...
flowingdata.com/projects/dis...
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
I watched this video this morning and it really has been instructive for understanding, well, a lot of behavior.
youtu.be/bNOol5OTasw
youtu.be/bNOol5OTasw
You're not addicted to tiktoks/reels, you're addicted to the scrolling
YouTube video by HGModernism
youtu.be
February 14, 2025 at 2:36 AM
I watched this video this morning and it really has been instructive for understanding, well, a lot of behavior.
youtu.be/bNOol5OTasw
youtu.be/bNOol5OTasw
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
WSJ sub: “Indian Partition went smoothly enough, right? Will try to remember to check this before publishing.”
February 13, 2025 at 11:15 AM
WSJ sub: “Indian Partition went smoothly enough, right? Will try to remember to check this before publishing.”
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
I found this to be an informative and provocative read - what happened to cognitive science? Authors argue, based on bibliometric and scientometric analysis, that cognitive science as a discipline is basically dead. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
What happened to cognitive science? - Nature Human Behaviour
Núñez et al. use bibliometric and socio-institutional indicators to show that over the years, cognitive science has failed to transition to a mature, coherent, interdisciplinary field.
www.nature.com
February 12, 2025 at 7:04 PM
I found this to be an informative and provocative read - what happened to cognitive science? Authors argue, based on bibliometric and scientometric analysis, that cognitive science as a discipline is basically dead. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
Tests are useful for humans because we think slowly and have to massively compress everything due to shitty hardware. Those aren't true for ai. Now, I'm an AI believer, but these recent incredible o3 results don't mean you'll be replaced
February 13, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Tests are useful for humans because we think slowly and have to massively compress everything due to shitty hardware. Those aren't true for ai. Now, I'm an AI believer, but these recent incredible o3 results don't mean you'll be replaced
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
Using this popular "draw a scientist" method, my friend has an intervention study and classroom materials that measurably improve how all children including boys (not just girls!) imagine scientists, and their curricula was deleted from federal websites
When asked to draw a scientist, school-age kids in the United States are increasingly sketching women, according to a study from 2018.
Read more on #WomenInScienceDay: https://scim.ag/4hOUuvx
Read more on #WomenInScienceDay: https://scim.ag/4hOUuvx
February 11, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Using this popular "draw a scientist" method, my friend has an intervention study and classroom materials that measurably improve how all children including boys (not just girls!) imagine scientists, and their curricula was deleted from federal websites
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
Well said, @carlbergstrom.com.
I also feel the dismantling of our scientific institutions & funding agencies for basic science is an attack on all scientists, wherever they might be (government or corporate lab, academic institution, ...).
Our collective identities are about advancing knowledge.
I also feel the dismantling of our scientific institutions & funding agencies for basic science is an attack on all scientists, wherever they might be (government or corporate lab, academic institution, ...).
Our collective identities are about advancing knowledge.
Thinking back on all this I better understand the pain I feel to see science under devastating attack here. It’s not just about my livelihood or my university. It’s about my identity. And it’s about a pursuit that I see as standing along with art, literature, and music as among our highest callings.
February 9, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Well said, @carlbergstrom.com.
I also feel the dismantling of our scientific institutions & funding agencies for basic science is an attack on all scientists, wherever they might be (government or corporate lab, academic institution, ...).
Our collective identities are about advancing knowledge.
I also feel the dismantling of our scientific institutions & funding agencies for basic science is an attack on all scientists, wherever they might be (government or corporate lab, academic institution, ...).
Our collective identities are about advancing knowledge.
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
logging on
Always anchor your TVs and furniture to the wall.
February 7, 2025 at 8:23 PM
logging on
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
{tinyplot} 0.3.0 is out! 🚨
It's a lightweight #Rstats 📦 to draw beautiful and complex plots, using an ultra-simple and concise syntax.
This is a massive release! @gmcd.bsky.social @zeileis.org and I worked hard to add tons of new themes and plot types.
Check it out!
grantmcdermott.com/tinyplot/
It's a lightweight #Rstats 📦 to draw beautiful and complex plots, using an ultra-simple and concise syntax.
This is a massive release! @gmcd.bsky.social @zeileis.org and I worked hard to add tons of new themes and plot types.
Check it out!
grantmcdermott.com/tinyplot/
February 5, 2025 at 9:48 PM
{tinyplot} 0.3.0 is out! 🚨
It's a lightweight #Rstats 📦 to draw beautiful and complex plots, using an ultra-simple and concise syntax.
This is a massive release! @gmcd.bsky.social @zeileis.org and I worked hard to add tons of new themes and plot types.
Check it out!
grantmcdermott.com/tinyplot/
It's a lightweight #Rstats 📦 to draw beautiful and complex plots, using an ultra-simple and concise syntax.
This is a massive release! @gmcd.bsky.social @zeileis.org and I worked hard to add tons of new themes and plot types.
Check it out!
grantmcdermott.com/tinyplot/
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
I went through my RL bookmarks, because it seems like finally the rest of the world has caught up to my world, I rediscovered this gem 💎 mpatacchiola.github.io/blog/2016/12... although I suspect nobody wants to learn RL this way now 😜
Dissecting Reinforcement Learning-Part.1
Explaining the basic ideas behind reinforcement learning. In particular, Markov Decision Process, Bellman equation, Value iteration and Policy Iteration algorithms, policy iteration through linear alg...
mpatacchiola.github.io
January 28, 2025 at 4:50 AM
I went through my RL bookmarks, because it seems like finally the rest of the world has caught up to my world, I rediscovered this gem 💎 mpatacchiola.github.io/blog/2016/12... although I suspect nobody wants to learn RL this way now 😜
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
I've built a machine that can be Confidently Wrong. It can also make pictures that all look a bit the same, as well as make a video of you kissing any celebrity or person you know. In payment, I'd like to boil the world's oceans dry, & steal all literature. For some reason, my head is not on a spike
January 24, 2025 at 10:56 AM
I've built a machine that can be Confidently Wrong. It can also make pictures that all look a bit the same, as well as make a video of you kissing any celebrity or person you know. In payment, I'd like to boil the world's oceans dry, & steal all literature. For some reason, my head is not on a spike
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
Garlic in my cooking and vanilla extract in my baking share one guiding principle: I add them with wild abandon, defying the recipe with a mix of audacity and playful disdain.
January 19, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Garlic in my cooking and vanilla extract in my baking share one guiding principle: I add them with wild abandon, defying the recipe with a mix of audacity and playful disdain.
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
I don’t have an opinion on TikTok because I’m on Bluesky and that means I’m over 30 years old and most of my opinions are about Tylenol and what’s on Hulu
January 19, 2025 at 2:58 AM
I don’t have an opinion on TikTok because I’m on Bluesky and that means I’m over 30 years old and most of my opinions are about Tylenol and what’s on Hulu
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
The December issue, and the final issue of volume 8 of Nature Astronomy, is now available to read: nature.com/natastron/vo...
The wonderful cover image shows the movement of galaxies towards basins of attraction, and is linked to the Valade et al. paper in the issue.
The wonderful cover image shows the movement of galaxies towards basins of attraction, and is linked to the Valade et al. paper in the issue.
January 2, 2025 at 4:21 PM
The December issue, and the final issue of volume 8 of Nature Astronomy, is now available to read: nature.com/natastron/vo...
The wonderful cover image shows the movement of galaxies towards basins of attraction, and is linked to the Valade et al. paper in the issue.
The wonderful cover image shows the movement of galaxies towards basins of attraction, and is linked to the Valade et al. paper in the issue.
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
“hole in the ozone layer” levels of erasure. my mom was a project manager who busted her ass for years to make sure IBM was ready for Y2K and completely succeeded, only for it to get turned into a late night joke. funny how the stories of mass collective action to avoid disaster rarely get told
DAMMIT NPR.
I spent nine months upgrading over TEN THOUSAND desktops at a F500 client. The grand total was over SEVENTY THOUSAND applications upgraded.
Y2K "didn't live up to the hype" because the industry busted ass to duct tape everything first.
I spent nine months upgrading over TEN THOUSAND desktops at a F500 client. The grand total was over SEVENTY THOUSAND applications upgraded.
Y2K "didn't live up to the hype" because the industry busted ass to duct tape everything first.
December 29, 2024 at 4:24 AM
“hole in the ozone layer” levels of erasure. my mom was a project manager who busted her ass for years to make sure IBM was ready for Y2K and completely succeeded, only for it to get turned into a late night joke. funny how the stories of mass collective action to avoid disaster rarely get told
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
A journalist retraces humanity’s journey out of Africa—on foot
"In 2013 paul salopek, an American journalist, began a trek around the planet. His aim was to follow Homo sapiens’ first migration, out of Africa... He guessed it would take seven years. Eleven years later, he is still walking..."
"In 2013 paul salopek, an American journalist, began a trek around the planet. His aim was to follow Homo sapiens’ first migration, out of Africa... He guessed it would take seven years. Eleven years later, he is still walking..."
A journalist retraces humanity’s journey out of Africa—on foot
The Economist tries “slow journalism” with Paul Salopek
www.economist.com
December 26, 2024 at 10:22 AM
A journalist retraces humanity’s journey out of Africa—on foot
"In 2013 paul salopek, an American journalist, began a trek around the planet. His aim was to follow Homo sapiens’ first migration, out of Africa... He guessed it would take seven years. Eleven years later, he is still walking..."
"In 2013 paul salopek, an American journalist, began a trek around the planet. His aim was to follow Homo sapiens’ first migration, out of Africa... He guessed it would take seven years. Eleven years later, he is still walking..."
Reposted by Abhishek Roy
My milk frother also heats as it froths, and I've discovered that if I add in powdered chocolate, I can make a delightfully frothed hot chocolate in under a minute. This is dangerous knowledge for a man of my considerable appetites and wild, hedonistic disposition
December 23, 2024 at 1:01 AM
My milk frother also heats as it froths, and I've discovered that if I add in powdered chocolate, I can make a delightfully frothed hot chocolate in under a minute. This is dangerous knowledge for a man of my considerable appetites and wild, hedonistic disposition