xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
@xuanalogue.bsky.social
Assistant professor at NUS. Scaling cooperative intelligence & infrastructure for an increasingly automated future. PhD @ MIT ProbComp / CoCoSci. Pronouns: 祂/伊
Pinned
I've struggled to announce this amidst so much dark & awful going on in the world, but with 1mo to go, I wanted to share that: (i) I finally graduated; (ii) In August, I'll begin as an assistant professor in the CS dept. of the National University of Singapore.
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
Hello fellow nerds! The upcoming Australasian Mathematical Psych Conference (AMPC) is going to be on Feb 23-25, and they've just put out the call for abstracts.
Details below. This is one of my favourite conferences and this year it's in Singapore(!!) which should be awesome.
Details below. This is one of my favourite conferences and this year it's in Singapore(!!) which should be awesome.
November 13, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Hello fellow nerds! The upcoming Australasian Mathematical Psych Conference (AMPC) is going to be on Feb 23-25, and they've just put out the call for abstracts.
Details below. This is one of my favourite conferences and this year it's in Singapore(!!) which should be awesome.
Details below. This is one of my favourite conferences and this year it's in Singapore(!!) which should be awesome.
Finished teaching my first seminar course today! Had tons of fun introducing my students to the rational foundations of human-like cooperation. Now that the course is over, I'm sharing the syllabus more widely!
November 12, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Finished teaching my first seminar course today! Had tons of fun introducing my students to the rational foundations of human-like cooperation. Now that the course is over, I'm sharing the syllabus more widely!
my favourite part of pantheon is how everyone is a furry or sanrio character in the future, truly a world worth fighting for 🥹
November 11, 2025 at 11:04 AM
my favourite part of pantheon is how everyone is a furry or sanrio character in the future, truly a world worth fighting for 🥹
Fascinating study, in line with the general unreliability of LMs at ToM reasoning I've seen.
I expect they'll be unreliable about other propositional attitudes (want, hope, expect, suspect, etc.), and suspect this is bc they're not trained on data that grounds this vocabulary.
I expect they'll be unreliable about other propositional attitudes (want, hope, expect, suspect, etc.), and suspect this is bc they're not trained on data that grounds this vocabulary.
Large language models (LLMs) may not reliably acknowledge a user’s incorrect beliefs, according to a paper in Nature Machine Intelligence. The findings highlight the need for careful use of LLM outputs in high-stakes decisions. go.nature.com/48VRpIQ 🧪
November 6, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Fascinating study, in line with the general unreliability of LMs at ToM reasoning I've seen.
I expect they'll be unreliable about other propositional attitudes (want, hope, expect, suspect, etc.), and suspect this is bc they're not trained on data that grounds this vocabulary.
I expect they'll be unreliable about other propositional attitudes (want, hope, expect, suspect, etc.), and suspect this is bc they're not trained on data that grounds this vocabulary.
How do people flexibly integrate visual & textual information to draw mental inferences about agents we've never met?
In a new paper led by @lanceying.bsky.social, we introduce a cognitive model that achieves this by synthesizing rational agent models on-the-fly -- presented at #EMNLP2025!
In a new paper led by @lanceying.bsky.social, we introduce a cognitive model that achieves this by synthesizing rational agent models on-the-fly -- presented at #EMNLP2025!
November 5, 2025 at 3:55 PM
How do people flexibly integrate visual & textual information to draw mental inferences about agents we've never met?
In a new paper led by @lanceying.bsky.social, we introduce a cognitive model that achieves this by synthesizing rational agent models on-the-fly -- presented at #EMNLP2025!
In a new paper led by @lanceying.bsky.social, we introduce a cognitive model that achieves this by synthesizing rational agent models on-the-fly -- presented at #EMNLP2025!
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
Obligatory pinned post: my new book, The Revenge of Reason, is now available to buy: www.urbanomic.com/book/the-rev...
November 3, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Obligatory pinned post: my new book, The Revenge of Reason, is now available to buy: www.urbanomic.com/book/the-rev...
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
November 3, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
I'm now also looking for a postdoc with strong Bayesian background and interest in developing Bayesian cross-validation theory, methods and software. Apply by email with no specific deadline (see contact information at users.aalto.fi/~ave/).
Others, please share
Others, please share
I'm looking for a doctoral student with Bayesian background to work on Bayesian workflow and cross-validation (see my publication list users.aalto.fi/~ave/publica... for my recent work) at Aalto University.
Apply through the ELLIS PhD program (dl October 31) ellis.eu/news/ellis-p...
Apply through the ELLIS PhD program (dl October 31) ellis.eu/news/ellis-p...
ELLIS PhD Program: Call for Applications 2025
The ELLIS mission is to create a diverse European network that promotes research excellence and advances breakthroughs in AI, as well as a pan-European PhD program to educate the next generation of AI...
ellis.eu
October 29, 2025 at 2:37 PM
I'm now also looking for a postdoc with strong Bayesian background and interest in developing Bayesian cross-validation theory, methods and software. Apply by email with no specific deadline (see contact information at users.aalto.fi/~ave/).
Others, please share
Others, please share
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
Now I'm also looking for a research software engineer to implement a pile of research results to R packages loo, posterior, bayesplot, projpred, priorsense, brms or/and Python packages ArviZ, Bambi and Kulprit. Apply by email with no specific deadline (see contact info at users.aalto.fi/~ave/)
I'm now also looking for a postdoc with strong Bayesian background and interest in developing Bayesian cross-validation theory, methods and software. Apply by email with no specific deadline (see contact information at users.aalto.fi/~ave/).
Others, please share
Others, please share
I'm looking for a doctoral student with Bayesian background to work on Bayesian workflow and cross-validation (see my publication list users.aalto.fi/~ave/publica... for my recent work) at Aalto University.
Apply through the ELLIS PhD program (dl October 31) ellis.eu/news/ellis-p...
Apply through the ELLIS PhD program (dl October 31) ellis.eu/news/ellis-p...
November 3, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Now I'm also looking for a research software engineer to implement a pile of research results to R packages loo, posterior, bayesplot, projpred, priorsense, brms or/and Python packages ArviZ, Bambi and Kulprit. Apply by email with no specific deadline (see contact info at users.aalto.fi/~ave/)
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
shockingly, it can both be true that 1) we should improve labor conditions 2) the workers prefer what they have now to what they had before.
November 2, 2025 at 10:16 PM
shockingly, it can both be true that 1) we should improve labor conditions 2) the workers prefer what they have now to what they had before.
just had to do inverse planning for the gf bc she walked to the fridge and was like "wait, why did I walk here again?" and thankfully I'm an inverse planning expert ✨
November 2, 2025 at 10:31 PM
just had to do inverse planning for the gf bc she walked to the fridge and was like "wait, why did I walk here again?" and thankfully I'm an inverse planning expert ✨
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
blog.arxiv.org/2025/10/31/a...
FYI the blog post for the updated policy is out. Our llm future is dire:/
FYI the blog post for the updated policy is out. Our llm future is dire:/
October 31, 2025 at 7:37 PM
blog.arxiv.org/2025/10/31/a...
FYI the blog post for the updated policy is out. Our llm future is dire:/
FYI the blog post for the updated policy is out. Our llm future is dire:/
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
We have a really strong position paper that has been rejected multiple times from arxiv, both CS.AI and CS.CY, because our "submission does not contain sufficient original or substantive scholarly research and is not of interest to arXiv." Appealing has not helped. Any ideas of what we can do?
August 27, 2025 at 5:08 PM
We have a really strong position paper that has been rejected multiple times from arxiv, both CS.AI and CS.CY, because our "submission does not contain sufficient original or substantive scholarly research and is not of interest to arXiv." Appealing has not helped. Any ideas of what we can do?
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
Everyone has memoryholed this and thus I'm constantly on about it, but *before 2016* antifascism was incredibly unpopular in The Left. It was basically confined to a minority tendency within anarchism. Virtually everyone else wanted a popular front that didn't create splits over kicking nazis out.
Establishment Democrats spent a full year complaining the Left forced them to be “woke.”
But then a left populist, Graham Platner, threatened to win in Maine, so they went right back to trying to cancel someone over old internet posts.
But then a left populist, Graham Platner, threatened to win in Maine, so they went right back to trying to cancel someone over old internet posts.
Democrats Cynically Wield “Wokeness” Against Graham Platner
Establishment Democrats spent a full year complaining the Left forced them to be “woke.” But then a left populist, Graham Platner, threatened to win in Maine, so they went right back to trying to cancel someone over old internet posts.
jacobin.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Everyone has memoryholed this and thus I'm constantly on about it, but *before 2016* antifascism was incredibly unpopular in The Left. It was basically confined to a minority tendency within anarchism. Virtually everyone else wanted a popular front that didn't create splits over kicking nazis out.
d/acc as in specifically accelerating biomedical research on life-threatening diseases that do not afflict elderly dictators and oligarchs
October 25, 2025 at 1:01 AM
d/acc as in specifically accelerating biomedical research on life-threatening diseases that do not afflict elderly dictators and oligarchs
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
1/
Alright, this one’s been sitting in my drawer for a year now, after @mcxfrank.bsky.social and I got turned down for a public commentary.
But before I forget about it completely, here’s the preprint:
Can we harvest insights for rice theory from two state farms in China?
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Alright, this one’s been sitting in my drawer for a year now, after @mcxfrank.bsky.social and I got turned down for a public commentary.
But before I forget about it completely, here’s the preprint:
Can we harvest insights for rice theory from two state farms in China?
osf.io/preprints/ps...
October 22, 2025 at 5:18 PM
1/
Alright, this one’s been sitting in my drawer for a year now, after @mcxfrank.bsky.social and I got turned down for a public commentary.
But before I forget about it completely, here’s the preprint:
Can we harvest insights for rice theory from two state farms in China?
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Alright, this one’s been sitting in my drawer for a year now, after @mcxfrank.bsky.social and I got turned down for a public commentary.
But before I forget about it completely, here’s the preprint:
Can we harvest insights for rice theory from two state farms in China?
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
Social media users adopt the toxic behaviors of ingroup members
An analysis of 7 million tweets from over 700,000 accounts finds that exposures to toxic behavior by ingroup members is the primary driver of contagious toxicity online academic.oup.com/jcmc/article...
An analysis of 7 million tweets from over 700,000 accounts finds that exposures to toxic behavior by ingroup members is the primary driver of contagious toxicity online academic.oup.com/jcmc/article...
October 22, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Social media users adopt the toxic behaviors of ingroup members
An analysis of 7 million tweets from over 700,000 accounts finds that exposures to toxic behavior by ingroup members is the primary driver of contagious toxicity online academic.oup.com/jcmc/article...
An analysis of 7 million tweets from over 700,000 accounts finds that exposures to toxic behavior by ingroup members is the primary driver of contagious toxicity online academic.oup.com/jcmc/article...
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
finally read @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social on Vice Signalling and not only is it really good obviously i find myself suddenly understanding a lot of what i think of as very confused "feminist" behaviour through this lens www.olufemiotaiwo.com/uploads/1/0/...
www.olufemiotaiwo.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:26 AM
finally read @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social on Vice Signalling and not only is it really good obviously i find myself suddenly understanding a lot of what i think of as very confused "feminist" behaviour through this lens www.olufemiotaiwo.com/uploads/1/0/...
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
is this anything
October 22, 2025 at 6:53 AM
is this anything
okay who designed the wallpaper on this bus to look like a machine learning dataset
October 22, 2025 at 5:46 AM
okay who designed the wallpaper on this bus to look like a machine learning dataset
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
Our team is building open algorithmic feeds for ATProto. The big bet here is not that we can make something radically better than the platforms, but radically more collaborative. We're building tools for everyone to experiment with the problem. And choose what they like best from the results.
October 21, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Our team is building open algorithmic feeds for ATProto. The big bet here is not that we can make something radically better than the platforms, but radically more collaborative. We're building tools for everyone to experiment with the problem. And choose what they like best from the results.
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
Finally out in TACL:
🌎EWoK (Elements of World Knowledge)🌎: A cognition-inspired framework for evaluating basic world knowledge in language models
tl;dr: LLMs learn basic social concepts way easier than physical&spatial concepts
Paper: direct.mit.edu/tacl/article...
Website: ewok-core.github.io
🌎EWoK (Elements of World Knowledge)🌎: A cognition-inspired framework for evaluating basic world knowledge in language models
tl;dr: LLMs learn basic social concepts way easier than physical&spatial concepts
Paper: direct.mit.edu/tacl/article...
Website: ewok-core.github.io
October 20, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Finally out in TACL:
🌎EWoK (Elements of World Knowledge)🌎: A cognition-inspired framework for evaluating basic world knowledge in language models
tl;dr: LLMs learn basic social concepts way easier than physical&spatial concepts
Paper: direct.mit.edu/tacl/article...
Website: ewok-core.github.io
🌎EWoK (Elements of World Knowledge)🌎: A cognition-inspired framework for evaluating basic world knowledge in language models
tl;dr: LLMs learn basic social concepts way easier than physical&spatial concepts
Paper: direct.mit.edu/tacl/article...
Website: ewok-core.github.io
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
This is a backdoor path from the Son to the Holy Spirit that should be closed by conditioning or stratifying on the Father.
I have found an EXCELLENT meme for the church history lecture on Wednesday (which includes the Great Schism)
October 20, 2025 at 9:53 PM
This is a backdoor path from the Son to the Holy Spirit that should be closed by conditioning or stratifying on the Father.
today I am teaching the kids how Bayesianism is woke
October 20, 2025 at 2:09 PM
today I am teaching the kids how Bayesianism is woke
Reposted by xuan (ɕɥɛn / sh-yen)
We're hiring! May be a good fit for you if you're excited about:
* Working on frontier AI issues (specific examples in the job description)
* Joining a team with a range of interests & expertise
* Bringing data, evidence, & nuance to policy conversations about frontier AI
Open until Nov 10:
* Working on frontier AI issues (specific examples in the job description)
* Joining a team with a range of interests & expertise
* Bringing data, evidence, & nuance to policy conversations about frontier AI
Open until Nov 10:
CSET is hiring 📢
We’re seeking a Research or Senior Fellow to help lead our Frontier AI policy research efforts.
Interested or know someone who would be? Learn more and apply 👇 cset.georgetown.edu/job/research...
We’re seeking a Research or Senior Fellow to help lead our Frontier AI policy research efforts.
Interested or know someone who would be? Learn more and apply 👇 cset.georgetown.edu/job/research...
October 17, 2025 at 7:58 PM
We're hiring! May be a good fit for you if you're excited about:
* Working on frontier AI issues (specific examples in the job description)
* Joining a team with a range of interests & expertise
* Bringing data, evidence, & nuance to policy conversations about frontier AI
Open until Nov 10:
* Working on frontier AI issues (specific examples in the job description)
* Joining a team with a range of interests & expertise
* Bringing data, evidence, & nuance to policy conversations about frontier AI
Open until Nov 10: