Jason Gantenberg
@jrgant.bsky.social
Research Scientist + Asst Prof (Practice) @ Brown SPH. Interested in epidemiology, stats, modeling, ID, complexity, causality. Know just enough to be dangerous.
Current quest: never leave Emacs.
(Personal account. Opinions not even my own.)
Current quest: never leave Emacs.
(Personal account. Opinions not even my own.)
Pinned
Jason Gantenberg
@jrgant.bsky.social
· Jan 6
In general, there are two reasons you might find a particular claim or viewpoint to be absurd.
SCENARIO 1: The viewpoint is absurd.
SCENARIO 2: You don't know what you're talking about.
Most of us will be in Scenario 2 more often than we'd like to admit.
SCENARIO 1: The viewpoint is absurd.
SCENARIO 2: You don't know what you're talking about.
Most of us will be in Scenario 2 more often than we'd like to admit.
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
in my post-academic era i have become extremely scathing of the way academia considers papers to the primary outcome of intellectual work, and refuses to give credit to academics who write software or build other tooling. in industry we very rarely read your papers; but we always use your software
October 28, 2025 at 2:15 AM
in my post-academic era i have become extremely scathing of the way academia considers papers to the primary outcome of intellectual work, and refuses to give credit to academics who write software or build other tooling. in industry we very rarely read your papers; but we always use your software
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
It’s astonishing how many researchers seem to believe that a cluster analysis is such a sensible analysis that it needn’t even be justified through a coherent research question. Just cluster analysis go brrrrr
October 27, 2025 at 3:42 PM
It’s astonishing how many researchers seem to believe that a cluster analysis is such a sensible analysis that it needn’t even be justified through a coherent research question. Just cluster analysis go brrrrr
I was opposed to the deal Brown struck with Trump over the summer, knowing full well it would probably cost me my job if the university didn't do it.
I am happy they rejected this compact, at the very least, though I would have liked a more forceful statement.
I am happy they rejected this compact, at the very least, though I would have liked a more forceful statement.
October 15, 2025 at 8:27 PM
I was opposed to the deal Brown struck with Trump over the summer, knowing full well it would probably cost me my job if the university didn't do it.
I am happy they rejected this compact, at the very least, though I would have liked a more forceful statement.
I am happy they rejected this compact, at the very least, though I would have liked a more forceful statement.
This is a good one. I've got some remedial reading to do.
When change moves faster than systems can adapt, they tip
Our culture of “now-ism” risks pushing climate, economies and societies past their limits
The latest #ComplexityThoughts:
👉 manlius.substack.com/p/how-modern...
🎧 on Spotify and Apple
#ComplexSystems #Resilience
@ricardsole.bsky.social
Our culture of “now-ism” risks pushing climate, economies and societies past their limits
The latest #ComplexityThoughts:
👉 manlius.substack.com/p/how-modern...
🎧 on Spotify and Apple
#ComplexSystems #Resilience
@ricardsole.bsky.social
How modern “now-ism“ can accelerate crises in climate, finance and ecosystems
Slowing change may be our last line of defense
manlius.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:10 PM
This is a good one. I've got some remedial reading to do.
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
New post on what happens when you can't press undo, from research and banking to cryptography and modern AI: kucharski.substack.com/p/not-going-...
October 13, 2025 at 11:26 AM
New post on what happens when you can't press undo, from research and banking to cryptography and modern AI: kucharski.substack.com/p/not-going-...
Palmer is a libertarian, so when he says "liberalism" he's referring to the small-l variety. I agree wholeheartedly with this quote.
Pleasure to intro this. @tomgpalmer.bsky.social: "We, not the nativists and neo-Confederates, are... for the turning points in history at which Americanism carried the day against the forces of unfreedom. Liberals own the flag. We own the Constitution. We own the greatest chapters of American life."
August 17, 2025 at 4:20 AM
Palmer is a libertarian, so when he says "liberalism" he's referring to the small-l variety. I agree wholeheartedly with this quote.
That warm feeling when someone cites your paper for... *skims article*... the background claim for which you cited the original source.
August 17, 2025 at 12:12 AM
That warm feeling when someone cites your paper for... *skims article*... the background claim for which you cited the original source.
We have established that were you to combine the worst comedic timing, instincts, skill, and craft, you would come up with Adam Sandler. If you add to that mixture the sun shining on a horse's ass twice a day, you'd get Will Ferrell.
August 12, 2025 at 6:56 PM
We have established that were you to combine the worst comedic timing, instincts, skill, and craft, you would come up with Adam Sandler. If you add to that mixture the sun shining on a horse's ass twice a day, you'd get Will Ferrell.
Thank you
Papers often conclude "more research is needed" without explanation. This is a missed opportunity. You are the expert. This is your time to shine. Explain what the remaining uncertainties are, and give justified recommendations on what the research needed to resolve them should look like.
August 11, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Thank you
Interesting that Gemini 2.5 Pro gets the correct answer in its "thinking" but then reports the same incorrect answer as ChatGPT5.
![Output from Gemini 2.5 Pro showing its "thinking" arriving at the correct answer when solving for x in [5.9 = x + 5.11], where x = 0.79, but still reporting an incorrect answer: x = -0.21.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yc6rv5mhfnery26hn3uo5fl3/bafkreiafz56j3lvddmfxb5ayguc7lksrmqqv3bknxkqeyf67wbpemc3ida@jpeg)
August 11, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Interesting that Gemini 2.5 Pro gets the correct answer in its "thinking" but then reports the same incorrect answer as ChatGPT5.
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
The complaint against "wokeness" was that student mobs could brand a professor as a bigot and get the prof "cancelled." Now under Trump, the "anti-woke" types are formalizing this as a power granted by government to conservative students.
Want to get back at that prof who gave you an A- on an exam? Or maybe you don't think people of color or women should be professors?
Make up a story about antisemitism, plop it into an anonymous student evaluation, and watch as your prof's life is upturned faster than you can spell "fascism."
Make up a story about antisemitism, plop it into an anonymous student evaluation, and watch as your prof's life is upturned faster than you can spell "fascism."
And the following language: "Student course evaluations that are collected on an anonymous basis at the end of each semester will be regularly reviewed to identify any reports of antisemitism, which will be promptly referred to OECR for appropriate action."
July 31, 2025 at 3:14 AM
The complaint against "wokeness" was that student mobs could brand a professor as a bigot and get the prof "cancelled." Now under Trump, the "anti-woke" types are formalizing this as a power granted by government to conservative students.
A sad day at Brown.
The “deal” that Brown made with the Trump admin is much more extreme than is being reported. It includes government oversight of course evaluations and no barrier to government interference in faculty hiring.
Read it for yourself here:
www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...
Read it for yourself here:
www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...
www.brown.edu
July 31, 2025 at 5:34 AM
A sad day at Brown.
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
LLMs don't lie because they want to. They lie because they're trained to role-play, reinforced to please and lack grounding in truth.
This misalignment isn't just theoretical: it’s showing up in fabricated data, hallucinated praise, even red-teamed blackmail.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
This misalignment isn't just theoretical: it’s showing up in fabricated data, hallucinated praise, even red-teamed blackmail.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Why AI chatbots lie to us
A few weeks ago, a colleague of mine needed to collect and format some data from a website, and he asked the latest version of Anthropic’s generative AI system, Claude, for help. Claude cheerfully agr...
www.science.org
July 25, 2025 at 6:23 AM
LLMs don't lie because they want to. They lie because they're trained to role-play, reinforced to please and lack grounding in truth.
This misalignment isn't just theoretical: it’s showing up in fabricated data, hallucinated praise, even red-teamed blackmail.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
This misalignment isn't just theoretical: it’s showing up in fabricated data, hallucinated praise, even red-teamed blackmail.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
One of the dadgummed dumbest things about Gmail / Google Drive is that they won't preview code scripts as plain text without a third-party add-on.
Something tells me this cannot be Lindy.
Something tells me this cannot be Lindy.
July 17, 2025 at 4:40 PM
One of the dadgummed dumbest things about Gmail / Google Drive is that they won't preview code scripts as plain text without a third-party add-on.
Something tells me this cannot be Lindy.
Something tells me this cannot be Lindy.
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
This is often misunderstood. Crappy fraud, like manipulated images, sometimes can be seen with a little care. But if someone is smart about it, we can't reasonably expect normal peer review to pick it up.
Into the afternoon now, Elisabeth Bik makes case that peer review cannot really detect fraud, because researchers don't know how to recognize it. Need professional fraud detectors. Elsevier rep in morning said they see more and more fraudulent submissions. Becoming a stress on system.
July 14, 2025 at 2:39 PM
This is often misunderstood. Crappy fraud, like manipulated images, sometimes can be seen with a little care. But if someone is smart about it, we can't reasonably expect normal peer review to pick it up.
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
If you want to understand how the federal government could turn into a bunch of white supremacists with guns abusing minorities while 20 something neo-Nazi shit posters fill official state social media accounts with groyper memes, my conversation with @noupside.bsky.social is a good place to start.
How Right-Wing Influencers Took Over Politics (w/ Renée DiResta)
Listen to How Right-Wing Influencers Took Over Politics (w/ Renée DiResta) from ReImagining Liberty wherever you get your podcasts!
episodes.fm
July 10, 2025 at 11:12 PM
If you want to understand how the federal government could turn into a bunch of white supremacists with guns abusing minorities while 20 something neo-Nazi shit posters fill official state social media accounts with groyper memes, my conversation with @noupside.bsky.social is a good place to start.
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
Depending which methods guru you ask every analytical task is “essentially” a missing data problem, a causal inference problem, a Bayesian problem, a regression problem or a machine learning problem
July 10, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Depending which methods guru you ask every analytical task is “essentially” a missing data problem, a causal inference problem, a Bayesian problem, a regression problem or a machine learning problem
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
douglas hofstader has taken his gloves off
garymarcus.substack.com/p/are-llms-s...
garymarcus.substack.com/p/are-llms-s...
July 10, 2025 at 12:58 PM
douglas hofstader has taken his gloves off
garymarcus.substack.com/p/are-llms-s...
garymarcus.substack.com/p/are-llms-s...
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
Stop spreading this garbage about em dashes in ACTUAL EDITED PROSE OH MY GOD.
Plenty of actual human beings know how to type em dashes! We’re called “writers” and “editors” — maybe you’ve heard of us?
Plenty of actual human beings know how to type em dashes! We’re called “writers” and “editors” — maybe you’ve heard of us?
July 6, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Stop spreading this garbage about em dashes in ACTUAL EDITED PROSE OH MY GOD.
Plenty of actual human beings know how to type em dashes! We’re called “writers” and “editors” — maybe you’ve heard of us?
Plenty of actual human beings know how to type em dashes! We’re called “writers” and “editors” — maybe you’ve heard of us?
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
Libertarians: is this freedom
It’s one thing to say they want to deport 20 million people, it’s even one thing to go nuts brazenly doing whatever you can as the executive branch to make it happen, but the fact that they’re going to give ICE an additional 45B shows how committed they are to seeing this through.
July 1, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Libertarians: is this freedom
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
What is alive? What is dead?
To follow the tree of discussions, click below and navigate.
Here, I briefly give some reflections that might be useful to spur further discussion.
A “life thread” 🧪🧬🦠🌍🌐
🧵 1/
To follow the tree of discussions, click below and navigate.
Here, I briefly give some reflections that might be useful to spur further discussion.
A “life thread” 🧪🧬🦠🌍🌐
🧵 1/
I think we might miss the fact that internal dynamics (and closure) are completely disrupted once gradients (and the associated flows) stop. That marks the transition to a new state where the requirement of a distinction between inside/outside is gone. As an agent, it is dead.
February 13, 2025 at 11:20 AM
What is alive? What is dead?
To follow the tree of discussions, click below and navigate.
Here, I briefly give some reflections that might be useful to spur further discussion.
A “life thread” 🧪🧬🦠🌍🌐
🧵 1/
To follow the tree of discussions, click below and navigate.
Here, I briefly give some reflections that might be useful to spur further discussion.
A “life thread” 🧪🧬🦠🌍🌐
🧵 1/
Reposted by Jason Gantenberg
Any physician who refuses to treat a person based on their politics or anything other their ability to treat that person should lose their license to practice.
June 16, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Any physician who refuses to treat a person based on their politics or anything other their ability to treat that person should lose their license to practice.