Andrew Perfors
@perfors.net
Prof at UniMelb. I'm a computational cognitive scientist studying human inference, learning, information systems, culture, and (mis/dis)info. Nerd & opinionated loudmouth in Oz, originally from America, citizen of both. Parent of two. 🏳️⚧️ perfors.net
Pinned
Andrew Perfors
@perfors.net
· Apr 29
Anti-trans attitudes have existed for years, but organised disinformation campaigns are increasingly driving them
Disinformation exists across all parts of the political spectrum, but it goes far beyond simple lying when it comes to the campaign against the transgender community, says a University of Melbourne ex...
pursuit.unimelb.edu.au
I wrote an article about the psychology by which disinformation campaigns work, with examples from anti-trans propaganda. It's not just about individual beliefs, but also the way our institutions and norms are manipulated.
Please read and share!
pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/Ant...?
Please read and share!
pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/Ant...?
A good goal in life is to live such that someone calmly pointing out the truth about you feels like an affirmation rather than a vivisection.
November 11, 2025 at 9:17 AM
A good goal in life is to live such that someone calmly pointing out the truth about you feels like an affirmation rather than a vivisection.
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
I love this cartoon.
In my experience, if you know enough to write a detailed description of a problem, it's quicker to write the code yourself, rather than writing screeds of description AND checking the AI code. At best, AI can be helpful in reminding youj about the rules of R, Python etc.
In my experience, if you know enough to write a detailed description of a problem, it's quicker to write the code yourself, rather than writing screeds of description AND checking the AI code. At best, AI can be helpful in reminding youj about the rules of R, Python etc.
10 years old and maybe never more relevant than in contemporary software development
www.commitstrip.com/en/2016/08/2...
www.commitstrip.com/en/2016/08/2...
November 10, 2025 at 11:09 PM
I love this cartoon.
In my experience, if you know enough to write a detailed description of a problem, it's quicker to write the code yourself, rather than writing screeds of description AND checking the AI code. At best, AI can be helpful in reminding youj about the rules of R, Python etc.
In my experience, if you know enough to write a detailed description of a problem, it's quicker to write the code yourself, rather than writing screeds of description AND checking the AI code. At best, AI can be helpful in reminding youj about the rules of R, Python etc.
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
i parachute into X/Twitter a lot for my job and obviously have chronicled the devolution but today it feels that, even outside of the realm of groyperposting the broad culture there is just like *i have lead poisoning*
November 10, 2025 at 6:59 PM
i parachute into X/Twitter a lot for my job and obviously have chronicled the devolution but today it feels that, even outside of the realm of groyperposting the broad culture there is just like *i have lead poisoning*
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
Chuck Schumer to the DNC.
!["Hey! I'm so glad you reached out.
I'm actually at capacity / helping someone else who's in crisis / dealing with some personal stuff right now, and I don't think I can hold appropriate space for you. Could we connect [later date or time] instead / Do you have someone else you could reach out to?"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rpe6pcxtult5zx2ossmkqxp3/bafkreih6ppg67ec6p7ekv4ea4y3n5optvktjvqshduc5sulupscgiyk3ma@jpeg)
November 10, 2025 at 5:43 AM
Chuck Schumer to the DNC.
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
This is why this surrender isn't just about this narrow issue but is rather the whole constitutional ballgame:
Democrats are affirmatively signaling they do not want political power at the same time Trump is transitioning the political system into an autocratic one wherein they're denied it forever
Democrats are affirmatively signaling they do not want political power at the same time Trump is transitioning the political system into an autocratic one wherein they're denied it forever
Not that he didn’t already know, but now Trump knows for sure he can roll the Dems every time and there’s no need to negotiate for anything
November 10, 2025 at 3:10 AM
This is why this surrender isn't just about this narrow issue but is rather the whole constitutional ballgame:
Democrats are affirmatively signaling they do not want political power at the same time Trump is transitioning the political system into an autocratic one wherein they're denied it forever
Democrats are affirmatively signaling they do not want political power at the same time Trump is transitioning the political system into an autocratic one wherein they're denied it forever
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
November 10, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.
The valiant never taste of death but once.
November 10, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
Today I wrote about Zohran Mamdani's historic win, the energizing power of holding to shared principles of decency, and a taxonomy of the endlessly intertwined relationship between shame and vision. www.the-reframe.com/the-extraord...
The Extraordinary Power of Standing For Something
Winning by creating vision in the positive space of shared standards, and expertly negotiating the negative space of shame.
www.the-reframe.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Today I wrote about Zohran Mamdani's historic win, the energizing power of holding to shared principles of decency, and a taxonomy of the endlessly intertwined relationship between shame and vision. www.the-reframe.com/the-extraord...
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
I get this a lot too. I don't use ChatGPT or any LLMs in my work because I want my writing to sound like me, not like the averaged-out voice of the internet. But also, writing is thinking, and thinking is a habit. I don't want to get out of that habit.
A friend recently texted me the same thing. “Do you really not use ChatGPT?!” It was a sign of where we are culturally on this. People are compelled to use it but also starting to question the normalcy?
Recently met someone who was very surprised to hear I didn’t use ChatGPT or any LLM.
I said my job depended on doing distinctive work. That was my selling point. If I started to sound like ChatGPT and turn out what it did, then how on earth could I justify doing it? What would that make me?
I said my job depended on doing distinctive work. That was my selling point. If I started to sound like ChatGPT and turn out what it did, then how on earth could I justify doing it? What would that make me?
November 8, 2025 at 1:43 PM
I get this a lot too. I don't use ChatGPT or any LLMs in my work because I want my writing to sound like me, not like the averaged-out voice of the internet. But also, writing is thinking, and thinking is a habit. I don't want to get out of that habit.
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
What an amazing essay from the former chair of Africana Studies at Bowdoin. I'll share a few sections in the reply but seriously, read the whole thing. It's all insightful and beautifully written.
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:11 PM
What an amazing essay from the former chair of Africana Studies at Bowdoin. I'll share a few sections in the reply but seriously, read the whole thing. It's all insightful and beautifully written.
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
Andrew’s conclusions here are spot on, IMO, and should be instilled in every PhD student. This is especially true in computer science where PhD supervisors cannot physically check every single line of code that a student writes, yet experimental validity of hinges on code correctness
Getting nervous for the talk I'm about to give at a workshop about "using AI to drive impact" which features slides such as these.
November 6, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Andrew’s conclusions here are spot on, IMO, and should be instilled in every PhD student. This is especially true in computer science where PhD supervisors cannot physically check every single line of code that a student writes, yet experimental validity of hinges on code correctness
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
November 6, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
Follow @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social, my friends.
Concise analysis, presented so that even I can understand it.
Concise analysis, presented so that even I can understand it.
"Both Sane and Insane": Autocratic Visions of Governance, and Chaos as a Strategy
Plus gratitude practice and a discount on paying subscriptions as a thank you
lucid.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Follow @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social, my friends.
Concise analysis, presented so that even I can understand it.
Concise analysis, presented so that even I can understand it.
Getting nervous for the talk I'm about to give at a workshop about "using AI to drive impact" which features slides such as these.
November 6, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Getting nervous for the talk I'm about to give at a workshop about "using AI to drive impact" which features slides such as these.
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
It’s grad school application season, and I wanted to give some public advice.
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
November 6, 2025 at 2:55 PM
It’s grad school application season, and I wanted to give some public advice.
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 6, 2025 at 4:21 PM
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
READ THIS !
"For nine months, Sky News' Data and Forensics team has been investigating whether X's algorithm amplifies right-wing and extreme content. It does."
#Musk #propaganda #X #antifa #fascism
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
"For nine months, Sky News' Data and Forensics team has been investigating whether X's algorithm amplifies right-wing and extreme content. It does."
#Musk #propaganda #X #antifa #fascism
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:58 AM
READ THIS !
"For nine months, Sky News' Data and Forensics team has been investigating whether X's algorithm amplifies right-wing and extreme content. It does."
#Musk #propaganda #X #antifa #fascism
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
"For nine months, Sky News' Data and Forensics team has been investigating whether X's algorithm amplifies right-wing and extreme content. It does."
#Musk #propaganda #X #antifa #fascism
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
too big to fail speedrun
BREAKING: OpenAI is requesting US government support to help guarantee financing for the massive investments in AI chips and data centers it needs for expansion, per Bloomberg.
November 6, 2025 at 1:30 AM
too big to fail speedrun
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
"'They’re spending more money than I would even tax them,' [Mamdani] said in an interview with MSNBC last week."
This is the message. Make it clear that these billionaires aren't just worried about losing money. They're worried about losing the ability to exchange their money for power.
This is the message. Make it clear that these billionaires aren't just worried about losing money. They're worried about losing the ability to exchange their money for power.
November 5, 2025 at 7:41 PM
"'They’re spending more money than I would even tax them,' [Mamdani] said in an interview with MSNBC last week."
This is the message. Make it clear that these billionaires aren't just worried about losing money. They're worried about losing the ability to exchange their money for power.
This is the message. Make it clear that these billionaires aren't just worried about losing money. They're worried about losing the ability to exchange their money for power.
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
"A Stunning Rebuke Of Anti-Trans Politics"—Dems Win Elections Nationwide Despite Anti-Trans Ads
As election results poured in on Tues night, it became clear that Democrats were winning nationwide against anti-trans opponents.
www.erininthemorning.com/p/a-stunning...
As election results poured in on Tues night, it became clear that Democrats were winning nationwide against anti-trans opponents.
www.erininthemorning.com/p/a-stunning...
"A Stunning Rebuke Of Anti-Trans Politics"—Dems Win Elections Nationwide Despite Anti-Trans Ads
As election results poured in on Tuesday night, it became clear that Democrats were winning nationwide against anti-trans opponents.
www.erininthemorning.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:23 AM
"A Stunning Rebuke Of Anti-Trans Politics"—Dems Win Elections Nationwide Despite Anti-Trans Ads
As election results poured in on Tues night, it became clear that Democrats were winning nationwide against anti-trans opponents.
www.erininthemorning.com/p/a-stunning...
As election results poured in on Tues night, it became clear that Democrats were winning nationwide against anti-trans opponents.
www.erininthemorning.com/p/a-stunning...
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
Looking forward to learning all about how the right should move left to win elections tomorrow. They should maybe dye their hair pink, learn to love pronouns.
November 5, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Looking forward to learning all about how the right should move left to win elections tomorrow. They should maybe dye their hair pink, learn to love pronouns.
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
Pains me to say it but I think this is true. Some of my colleagues in the media who’ve stayed on X don’t even realize how badly its noxious algorithm is skewing their perception of politics and reality.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
Tonight's even more proof the mainstream reporters who are still on Twitter are suffering from a brain problem akin Havana Syndrome that is preventing them from accurately doing their jobs. They are being cooked alive by a snuff-focused apartheid algorithm.
November 5, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Pains me to say it but I think this is true. Some of my colleagues in the media who’ve stayed on X don’t even realize how badly its noxious algorithm is skewing their perception of politics and reality.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
My biggest hope is that the Democrats actually internalise the right lessons from this and realise that their focus-grouped, corporate-owned milquetoast centrist strategy of "let's figure out who of our vulnerable constituents we can fuck over to make nice with MAGA and regain power" is NOT POPULAR
Sobering news for a lot of top Democrats, tonight, as they realize people would prefer they actually fucking do something.
November 5, 2025 at 6:11 AM
My biggest hope is that the Democrats actually internalise the right lessons from this and realise that their focus-grouped, corporate-owned milquetoast centrist strategy of "let's figure out who of our vulnerable constituents we can fuck over to make nice with MAGA and regain power" is NOT POPULAR
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
😎😎😎😎 GOOD THINGS CAN STILL HAPPEN 😎😎😎😎
November 5, 2025 at 5:22 AM
😎😎😎😎 GOOD THINGS CAN STILL HAPPEN 😎😎😎😎
Reposted by Andrew Perfors
It actually is mind blowing to check out X and see what is essentially 4chan which is also populated with politicians, media figures, "thought leaders" etc.
A dystopian horror, really. Where neo-Nazis now have equal standing with mainstream leaders. There is a reason Fuentes is now so mainstreamed.
A dystopian horror, really. Where neo-Nazis now have equal standing with mainstream leaders. There is a reason Fuentes is now so mainstreamed.
The authoritarian takeover of X was a harbinger of the regime’s strategy for America at large.
Bluesky is a perfectly adequate refuge for X exiles. The biggest problem with Bluesky is that so many political and media elites are still on X. That’s not Bluesky’s fault—it reflects poorly on the elite.
Bluesky is a perfectly adequate refuge for X exiles. The biggest problem with Bluesky is that so many political and media elites are still on X. That’s not Bluesky’s fault—it reflects poorly on the elite.
I'm doing a big Bluesky column today! Hit me with your where-Bluesky-is-at-this-moment-in-2025 takes
November 3, 2025 at 11:54 PM
It actually is mind blowing to check out X and see what is essentially 4chan which is also populated with politicians, media figures, "thought leaders" etc.
A dystopian horror, really. Where neo-Nazis now have equal standing with mainstream leaders. There is a reason Fuentes is now so mainstreamed.
A dystopian horror, really. Where neo-Nazis now have equal standing with mainstream leaders. There is a reason Fuentes is now so mainstreamed.