Jason Gantenberg
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jrgant.bsky.social
Jason Gantenberg
@jrgant.bsky.social
2.2K followers 990 following 1.1K posts
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.)
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jrgant.bsky.social
One "upgrade" in Gemini 3 Pro is that my "Asshole" gem, which I instructed to be a complete asshole to me, no longer works. Flagged as abusive and profane.

As an alternative, Gemini suggests roleplay a specific character. So I said "embody Begbie from Trainspotting".

The funniest "thinking" step:
The "Crafting a Fake Persona" step in Gemini 3 Pro's reasoning when creating the character of Begbie from Irvine Welsh's *Trainspotting*.
November 22, 2025 at 5:38 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
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.
August 11, 2025 at 7:59 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
Google Gemini thinking in response to "thanks, yo"
July 2, 2025 at 10:36 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
Follow me for more tips on finding articles published in the future!

(Don't @ me)
screenshot of a bibliographic reference indicating 2107 as the year of publication
May 28, 2025 at 2:26 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
Beautiful day in Providence
Pink blossoms on a tree at the Brown University campus The Industrial Trust building, as viewed from the east bank of the Providence River View of downtown Providence from the Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge View of downtown Providence from the east bank of the Providence River
May 3, 2025 at 9:20 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
Daily welcome mat time
A tabby cat on a welcome mat A tabby cat on a welcome mat A tabby cat on a welcome mat
May 1, 2025 at 9:43 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
#HandsOff march in Providence, Rhode Island. Crowd was much bigger than this photo captures.
HandsOff rally in Providence
April 5, 2025 at 7:43 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
A visitor to the Brown School of Public Health

#episky
A wild turkey A wild turkey near parked cars A wild turkey
April 2, 2025 at 2:36 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
"We are currently clean on opsec."
Hannibal Lecter escaping custody
March 26, 2025 at 8:31 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
A little temporary respite from the pall that hangs over us.
A tabby cat sleeping
March 23, 2025 at 7:16 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
November 19, 2024 capture of the codebook: web.archive.org/web/20241129...

Current (March 5, 2025): www.cdc.gov/brfss/annual...

Pics aren't comprehensive. The variable BIRTHSEX appears missing from March 5.

Number of individuals dropped is small, so weighted proportions are now slightly off.
March 5, 2025 at 7:13 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
The Today Show, of all places, has correctly parsed the tepid, mealy-mouthed "call to action" from RFK Jr. re: the ongoing measles outbreaks.
Screenshot of a Today Show post on Facebook identifying RFK Jr's failure to explicitly recommend measles vaccination amid an ongoing series of outbreaks.
March 3, 2025 at 2:39 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
Definitely leveled all the way up on Sartorial.
Three layers of beautiful plaid
February 26, 2025 at 1:38 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
What is out of sight can still hurt you.

open.substack.com/pub/dgardner...
Quote from Dan Gardner's article 'Failures of Imagination'
February 23, 2025 at 5:44 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
Personally, I think this conflict of interest language should appear at any mention of RFK Jr's advocacy or leadership. (Story by @helenbranswell.bsky.social.)

www.statnews.com/2025/02/20/c...
"Kennedy, who has generated substantial income from challenging the safety of vaccines — through paid speeches, books, his former position as founder and chair of Children’s Health Defense, and as a lawyer suing vaccine manufacturers — refused repeatedly during his Senate confirmation hearings to distance himself from disproven claims about the safety of vaccines, such as the claim that vaccines are behind rising autism rates. At the same time, he said during the hearing that he is not opposed to vaccines."
February 21, 2025 at 4:13 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
That kneejerk reactions to certain concepts can go beyond the purely intellectual or practical realm is interesting to me partly because it’s in tension with the pragmatic attitude that I tend to gravitate to (which Andrew has espoused many times on this blog). I’m wary of getting too caught up in philosophical arguments about statistics, or rejecting certain useful methods or conceptualizations because they cannot be perfectly realized. I would not refuse to ever use a hypothesis test, or declare certain methods useless (polling, for example), though sometimes people do. Obviously we don’t have to fully embrace certain myths to get some value out of acting as if they are true. This is part of the beauty of statistics.
February 20, 2025 at 8:19 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
Re: deploying the explanation of "disinformation" wantonly
A quote from Dan Williams's article "On conspiracy theories of ignorance"
February 17, 2025 at 4:51 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
Quote from the linked article by Rajiv Sethi
February 13, 2025 at 3:08 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
The first task is to see what's in front of you. Guard precious things zealously.
A quote regarding status quo bias from an article by Adam Kucharski
February 9, 2025 at 4:58 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
From @statmodeling.bsky.social : statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/10/11/l...
A quote from a blog post by Andrew Gelman regarding the importance of facing contradictions in one's own thinking
February 9, 2025 at 4:42 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#BookSky
#BookChallenge

Day 20/20
Book cover for "Liberalism" by Ludwig Von Mises
January 13, 2025 at 5:55 AM
jrgant.bsky.social
Improvement!
Two palettes of wood holding up a parking structure
January 12, 2025 at 8:24 PM
jrgant.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#BookSky
#BookChallenge

Day 19/20
Book cover of "The Black Swan" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
January 12, 2025 at 3:23 AM
jrgant.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#BookSky
#BookChallenge

Day 18/20
Book cover for "The Wake" by Paul Kingsnorth
January 11, 2025 at 2:03 AM
jrgant.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#BookSky
#BookChallenge

Day 17/20
Book cover for "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas S. Kuhn
January 10, 2025 at 1:25 AM