Adam Chess
@arsonade.bsky.social
M.A. philosophy, MPH
Healthcare Data Scientist. He/Him.
Philosophy, public health, stats, data science, scifi, art, TTRPGs, game design, and comics.
I mostly just repost when I learn something
Healthcare Data Scientist. He/Him.
Philosophy, public health, stats, data science, scifi, art, TTRPGs, game design, and comics.
I mostly just repost when I learn something
Reposted by Adam Chess
It’s time for us to reconnect with the radical, system-changing spirit that was once at the heart of our field. #publichealth #episky #medsky #activism www.thenation.com/article/acti...
Public Health Was a Place for Warriors Once. It Needs to Be Again.
It's time for us to reconnect with the radical, system-changing spirit that was once at the heart of our field.
www.thenation.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:40 PM
It’s time for us to reconnect with the radical, system-changing spirit that was once at the heart of our field. #publichealth #episky #medsky #activism www.thenation.com/article/acti...
Reposted by Adam Chess
Want a peek inside a 1,200 player RPG?
Read out interview with @samsorensen.bsky.social about OVER/UNDER, the massive play-by-post game that's a part of Mothership Month ( @mothership.bsky.social )
manysidednewsletter.substack.com/p/inside-a-1...
Read out interview with @samsorensen.bsky.social about OVER/UNDER, the massive play-by-post game that's a part of Mothership Month ( @mothership.bsky.social )
manysidednewsletter.substack.com/p/inside-a-1...
Inside a 1,200 Player RPG
A closer look at Over/Under, the massive play-by-post game
manysidednewsletter.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Want a peek inside a 1,200 player RPG?
Read out interview with @samsorensen.bsky.social about OVER/UNDER, the massive play-by-post game that's a part of Mothership Month ( @mothership.bsky.social )
manysidednewsletter.substack.com/p/inside-a-1...
Read out interview with @samsorensen.bsky.social about OVER/UNDER, the massive play-by-post game that's a part of Mothership Month ( @mothership.bsky.social )
manysidednewsletter.substack.com/p/inside-a-1...
Reposted by Adam Chess
Do AI agents ask good questions? We built “Collaborative Battleship” to find out—and discovered that weaker LMs + Bayesian inference can beat GPT-5 at 1% of the cost.
Paper, code & demos: gabegrand.github.io/battleship
Here's what we learned about building rational information-seeking agents... 🧵🔽
Paper, code & demos: gabegrand.github.io/battleship
Here's what we learned about building rational information-seeking agents... 🧵🔽
October 27, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Do AI agents ask good questions? We built “Collaborative Battleship” to find out—and discovered that weaker LMs + Bayesian inference can beat GPT-5 at 1% of the cost.
Paper, code & demos: gabegrand.github.io/battleship
Here's what we learned about building rational information-seeking agents... 🧵🔽
Paper, code & demos: gabegrand.github.io/battleship
Here's what we learned about building rational information-seeking agents... 🧵🔽
Reposted by Adam Chess
New from @hotsmartgirl.bsky.social
Sex work, light sci-fi, and deciding where your line lies.
Sex work, light sci-fi, and deciding where your line lies.
Agent Provocateur by Cassandra Spencer — Imposter
I’m at Madam’s Organ with Evvie and Andi, surrounded by a bunch of lanyard-wearing interns when the news breaks. Evvie yells over the music. “The Senate scheduled a vote tomorrow that includes a ban o...
www.imposter-review.org
October 14, 2025 at 3:52 PM
New from @hotsmartgirl.bsky.social
Sex work, light sci-fi, and deciding where your line lies.
Sex work, light sci-fi, and deciding where your line lies.
Reposted by Adam Chess
my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports
CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.
www.consumerreports.org
October 14, 2025 at 4:37 PM
my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
Reposted by Adam Chess
Over the past year, my lab has been working on fleshing out theory + applications of the Platonic Representation Hypothesis.
Today I want to share two new works on this topic:
Eliciting higher alignment: arxiv.org/abs/2510.02425
Unpaired learning of unified reps: arxiv.org/abs/2510.08492
1/9
Today I want to share two new works on this topic:
Eliciting higher alignment: arxiv.org/abs/2510.02425
Unpaired learning of unified reps: arxiv.org/abs/2510.08492
1/9
October 10, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Over the past year, my lab has been working on fleshing out theory + applications of the Platonic Representation Hypothesis.
Today I want to share two new works on this topic:
Eliciting higher alignment: arxiv.org/abs/2510.02425
Unpaired learning of unified reps: arxiv.org/abs/2510.08492
1/9
Today I want to share two new works on this topic:
Eliciting higher alignment: arxiv.org/abs/2510.02425
Unpaired learning of unified reps: arxiv.org/abs/2510.08492
1/9
Reposted by Adam Chess
if you're curious about the architecture and mechanics of LLMs, this site has a really excellent explorable interactive visualization. it helps build intuition for how massive these models are, what 'interpretability' means, and the complexity involved here
bbycroft.net/llm
bbycroft.net/llm
October 6, 2025 at 5:51 PM
if you're curious about the architecture and mechanics of LLMs, this site has a really excellent explorable interactive visualization. it helps build intuition for how massive these models are, what 'interpretability' means, and the complexity involved here
bbycroft.net/llm
bbycroft.net/llm
Reposted by Adam Chess
“[D]ooming is itself a liberation from the burden of choice. If everything is ruined forever, if your allies have already forsaken you, if the battle is already lost, you aren't responsible for your choices. They can't affect the outcome. You're free.”
Democrats Must Embrace War Mindset
We have exited a long period of peace and entered into a struggle not unlike war, in which all the old certainties have gone malleable and the future of the republic is at stake.
www.liberalcurrents.com
October 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
“[D]ooming is itself a liberation from the burden of choice. If everything is ruined forever, if your allies have already forsaken you, if the battle is already lost, you aren't responsible for your choices. They can't affect the outcome. You're free.”
Reposted by Adam Chess
In a new paper with @didaoh and Jon Kleinberg, we mapped the family trees of 1.86 million AI models on Hugging Face — the largest open-model ecosystem in the world.
AI evolution looks kind of like biology, but with some strange twists. 🧬🤖
AI evolution looks kind of like biology, but with some strange twists. 🧬🤖
August 14, 2025 at 3:06 PM
In a new paper with @didaoh and Jon Kleinberg, we mapped the family trees of 1.86 million AI models on Hugging Face — the largest open-model ecosystem in the world.
AI evolution looks kind of like biology, but with some strange twists. 🧬🤖
AI evolution looks kind of like biology, but with some strange twists. 🧬🤖
Reposted by Adam Chess
Reposted by Adam Chess
okay AI controversy aside, just talking as a nerd for a second: this is such a cool paper
"In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits."
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
www.computerworld.com/article/4059...
OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws
In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limi...
www.computerworld.com
September 21, 2025 at 4:07 PM
okay AI controversy aside, just talking as a nerd for a second: this is such a cool paper
Reposted by Adam Chess
LLMs becoming superhuman at all games & competitions but not even normal-expert good at anything that's not a game or competition continues to raise deep questions about whether games & competitions are a secret natural kind
September 18, 2025 at 12:08 AM
LLMs becoming superhuman at all games & competitions but not even normal-expert good at anything that's not a game or competition continues to raise deep questions about whether games & competitions are a secret natural kind
Reposted by Adam Chess
Solar luminosity around 3.5 billion years ago was only about 70% of what it is right now.
Which means that when life arose on earth, it was outside the sun's habitability zone: liquid water should not have been able to exist.
Faint Young Sun Paradox
Which means that when life arose on earth, it was outside the sun's habitability zone: liquid water should not have been able to exist.
Faint Young Sun Paradox
April 7, 2024 at 11:40 PM
Solar luminosity around 3.5 billion years ago was only about 70% of what it is right now.
Which means that when life arose on earth, it was outside the sun's habitability zone: liquid water should not have been able to exist.
Faint Young Sun Paradox
Which means that when life arose on earth, it was outside the sun's habitability zone: liquid water should not have been able to exist.
Faint Young Sun Paradox
It seems clear that the current historical moment will have a major impact on culture. Even recent art feels anachronistic. Movies involving govt/cops more obviously, but also just the undertones of social stability. It feels like it meant something different to make music last year. Any art really.
August 26, 2025 at 2:29 PM
It seems clear that the current historical moment will have a major impact on culture. Even recent art feels anachronistic. Movies involving govt/cops more obviously, but also just the undertones of social stability. It feels like it meant something different to make music last year. Any art really.
Reposted by Adam Chess
Hello, Bluesky! This account automatically posts updates when the Census Bureau APIs add or remove datasets.
See the full tracker at www.hrecht.com/census-api-d...
See the full tracker at www.hrecht.com/census-api-d...
Tracking Census Dataset Changes
See when the U.S. Census Bureau adds or removes datasets.
www.hrecht.com
August 11, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Hello, Bluesky! This account automatically posts updates when the Census Bureau APIs add or remove datasets.
See the full tracker at www.hrecht.com/census-api-d...
See the full tracker at www.hrecht.com/census-api-d...
Reposted by Adam Chess
If you're interested in learning #JuliaLang and are currently an #RStats user (or even if you're not!), then here's a little introduction to getting started! 📊
Blog post: nrennie.rbind.io/blog/introdu...
#QuartoPub #Julia @tidierjl.bsky.social
Blog post: nrennie.rbind.io/blog/introdu...
#QuartoPub #Julia @tidierjl.bsky.social
Introduction to Julia for R users – Nicola Rennie
This blog post will give R users an overview of what Julia is and why they might want to use it, introduce some data processing Julia packages, and show how they can incorporate Julia into existing R ...
nrennie.rbind.io
August 18, 2025 at 8:12 PM
If you're interested in learning #JuliaLang and are currently an #RStats user (or even if you're not!), then here's a little introduction to getting started! 📊
Blog post: nrennie.rbind.io/blog/introdu...
#QuartoPub #Julia @tidierjl.bsky.social
Blog post: nrennie.rbind.io/blog/introdu...
#QuartoPub #Julia @tidierjl.bsky.social
This one hurts. I've always had respect for the way USPTF operates. It should be a source of national pride
UPDATED: Well, that didn't take long.
Decisions about which services/medications have to be covered by health insurance will now be at the whim of people hand-picked by RFK Jr.
Mammograms & vaccines? Perhaps not.
Bleach injections & horse dewormer? Perhaps.
acasignups.net/25/07/26/my-...
Decisions about which services/medications have to be covered by health insurance will now be at the whim of people hand-picked by RFK Jr.
Mammograms & vaccines? Perhaps not.
Bleach injections & horse dewormer? Perhaps.
acasignups.net/25/07/26/my-...
My Monkey's Paw prediction came true: RFK Jr. replacing USPSTF w/nutjob toadies. Be afraid, be very afraid. (updated)
Me, on April 22nd: So, all of that was last summer. Skip ahead ten months and voila, the U.S. Supreme Court did indeed hear arguments in the case yesterday...and while the headline from the AP makes i...
acasignups.net
July 26, 2025 at 3:38 PM
This one hurts. I've always had respect for the way USPTF operates. It should be a source of national pride
Reposted by Adam Chess
The chief of a unit at the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that between one and five per cent of people who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia actually have an autoimmune condition.
Mary Had Schizophrenia—Then Suddenly She Didn’t
Some psychiatric patients may actually have treatable autoimmune conditions. But what happens to the newly sane?
www.newyorker.com
July 23, 2025 at 1:03 AM
The chief of a unit at the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that between one and five per cent of people who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia actually have an autoimmune condition.
Reposted by Adam Chess
1. We interrupt this programming for some LEGITIMATELY GOOD NEWS
Violent crime in Baltimore has PLUMMETED to historic lows
How did the city do it?
Baltimore adopted a comprehensive set of "woke" policies, treating violence as a public health issue
Violent crime in Baltimore has PLUMMETED to historic lows
How did the city do it?
Baltimore adopted a comprehensive set of "woke" policies, treating violence as a public health issue
The secret to Baltimore's extraordinary year
This April, Baltimore saw five homicides.
popular.info
July 16, 2025 at 1:14 PM
1. We interrupt this programming for some LEGITIMATELY GOOD NEWS
Violent crime in Baltimore has PLUMMETED to historic lows
How did the city do it?
Baltimore adopted a comprehensive set of "woke" policies, treating violence as a public health issue
Violent crime in Baltimore has PLUMMETED to historic lows
How did the city do it?
Baltimore adopted a comprehensive set of "woke" policies, treating violence as a public health issue
Take 1 basic ramen packet
Carefully open the side. Extract the flavor organ and reserve
Carefully crack the ramen in the bag, avoid noodle ejecta
Pour in like 1/4 of the flavor packet
Break it up a bit more
Close the bag with your hand and shake (not above your head!)
Enjoy your noodle chips. Freak
Carefully open the side. Extract the flavor organ and reserve
Carefully crack the ramen in the bag, avoid noodle ejecta
Pour in like 1/4 of the flavor packet
Break it up a bit more
Close the bag with your hand and shake (not above your head!)
Enjoy your noodle chips. Freak
BlueSky: tell me your food crimes
for example, I eat string cheese by just biting right into the stick
for example, I eat string cheese by just biting right into the stick
July 10, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Take 1 basic ramen packet
Carefully open the side. Extract the flavor organ and reserve
Carefully crack the ramen in the bag, avoid noodle ejecta
Pour in like 1/4 of the flavor packet
Break it up a bit more
Close the bag with your hand and shake (not above your head!)
Enjoy your noodle chips. Freak
Carefully open the side. Extract the flavor organ and reserve
Carefully crack the ramen in the bag, avoid noodle ejecta
Pour in like 1/4 of the flavor packet
Break it up a bit more
Close the bag with your hand and shake (not above your head!)
Enjoy your noodle chips. Freak
Reposted by Adam Chess
16 years ago, I found myself in the back garden of a couple I'd just met, as they showed me their pillow fighting arena. The lesson they taught me about games - especially competitive ones - has stayed with me ever since, but I forgot to mention it in interviews when asked if competition is bad. So:
July 1, 2025 at 8:48 PM
16 years ago, I found myself in the back garden of a couple I'd just met, as they showed me their pillow fighting arena. The lesson they taught me about games - especially competitive ones - has stayed with me ever since, but I forgot to mention it in interviews when asked if competition is bad. So:
Reposted by Adam Chess
@onlyplaywizards.com’s “Public Health Wargame” is a fascinating intersection of tabletop rpgs and my day job, and I couldn’t miss the chance to talk about it
Wargames and board game-adjacent scenarios can reveal the cracks in our health disaster preparedness, as contributor @aavoigt.bsky.social writes. These "tabletop exercises" are all about addressing uncertainty.
Preparing for Public Health Disasters With Tabletop Games
What can we learn from a wargame about combating illness?
www.rascal.news
July 2, 2025 at 2:33 PM
@onlyplaywizards.com’s “Public Health Wargame” is a fascinating intersection of tabletop rpgs and my day job, and I couldn’t miss the chance to talk about it
Reposted by Adam Chess
A few takeaways from my conversations with librarians at #ALAAC2025 last night:
📝 YES, journaling games are a great fit for libraries, because literacy
📝 YES, many libraries have D&D clubs but not enough DMs, and journaling games -- the ultimate GM-less game -- are a potential solution
BUT...
1/▶️
📝 YES, journaling games are a great fit for libraries, because literacy
📝 YES, many libraries have D&D clubs but not enough DMs, and journaling games -- the ultimate GM-less game -- are a potential solution
BUT...
1/▶️
June 29, 2025 at 3:20 AM
A few takeaways from my conversations with librarians at #ALAAC2025 last night:
📝 YES, journaling games are a great fit for libraries, because literacy
📝 YES, many libraries have D&D clubs but not enough DMs, and journaling games -- the ultimate GM-less game -- are a potential solution
BUT...
1/▶️
📝 YES, journaling games are a great fit for libraries, because literacy
📝 YES, many libraries have D&D clubs but not enough DMs, and journaling games -- the ultimate GM-less game -- are a potential solution
BUT...
1/▶️
Reposted by Adam Chess
I’m thrilled to announce the update of our water surveillance dashboard.
Many improvements, and our first substantial move into ‘OneHealth’.
Read to the end to find the Easter Egg.
1/
dholab.github.io/public_viz/0...
Many improvements, and our first substantial move into ‘OneHealth’.
Read to the end to find the Easter Egg.
1/
dholab.github.io/public_viz/0...
Wastewater Surveillance Dashboards
dholab.github.io
June 28, 2025 at 12:37 PM
I’m thrilled to announce the update of our water surveillance dashboard.
Many improvements, and our first substantial move into ‘OneHealth’.
Read to the end to find the Easter Egg.
1/
dholab.github.io/public_viz/0...
Many improvements, and our first substantial move into ‘OneHealth’.
Read to the end to find the Easter Egg.
1/
dholab.github.io/public_viz/0...
I loved everything about this
Here's a cool #DOSGaming video: someone was intrigued by many aspects of an obscure 1996 shareware game, so they tracked down its author for an interview, and to archive the game's interesting soundtrack:
youtu.be/_fM5UIuwbu0?...
youtu.be/_fM5UIuwbu0?...
The videogame inspired by Philip Glass that nobody noticed...
YouTube video by HowardHandsTV
youtu.be
June 26, 2025 at 11:45 PM
I loved everything about this