Tootfinder

'A recent survey found that 18% of Americans left their religion and are now religiously unaffiliated between the years of 2013 and 2023. Of those 18%, nearly half cited anti-LGBTQ sentiment within their prior religion as a reason for leaving.
The survey found that over a quarter (26%) of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated'
A lot of people are leaving their religions. Anti-LGBTQ sentiment is a driving force. - LGBTQ Nation

A lot of people are leaving their religions. Anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is a driving force. - LGBTQ Nation
Sexual misconduct and a lack of belief are other major reasons for leaving religion behind.

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.08994 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_mat…

How to Measure Evidence and Its Strength: Bayes Factors or Relative Belief Ratios?
Both the Bayes factor and the relative belief ratio satisfy the principle of evidence and so can be seen to be valid measures of statistical evidence. Certainly Bayes factors are regularly employed. The question then is: which of these measures of evidence is more appropriate? It is argued here that there are questions concerning the validity of a current commonly used definition of the Bayes factor based on a mixture prior and, when all is considered, the relative belief ratio has better prope…

Almost Optimal Agnostic Control of Unknown Linear Dynamics
Jacob Carruth, Maximilian F. Eggl, Charles Fefferman, Clarence W. Rowley
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.06320

Almost Optimal Agnostic Control of Unknown Linear Dynamics
We consider a simple control problem in which the underlying dynamics depend on a parameter $a$ that is unknown and must be learned. We study three variants of the control problem: Bayesian control, in which we have a prior belief about $a$; bounded agnostic control, in which we have no prior belief about $a$ but we assume that $a$ belongs to a bounded set; and fully agnostic control, in which $a$ is allowed to be an arbitrary real number about which we have no prior belief. In the Bayesian var…

The Duet of Representations and How Explanations Exacerbate It
Charles Wan, Rodrigo Belo, Leid Zejnilovi\'c, Susana Lavado
https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.08379

The Duet of Representations and How Explanations Exacerbate It
An algorithm effects a causal representation of relations between features and labels in the human's perception. Such a representation might conflict with the human's prior belief. Explanations can direct the human's attention to the conflicting feature and away from other relevant features. This leads to causal overattribution and may adversely affect the human's information processing. In a field experiment we implemented an XGBoost-trained model as a decision-making aid for counselors at a p…

'He has been able to play the victim very successfully, and it makes his followers feel protective of him. Anything that happens to him is just confirmation of this belief that he is a victim being persecuted. #Jan6 was an attempt to save a distressed leader, & people rallied, & so this is a continuation of that. That ideology of saving the leader from an unjust fate.'
Trump'…

Trump's behavior that 'doesn't get enough attention' exposed by authoritarianism scholar
Donald Trump lies about his prior failed election campaign, but that isn't the only reason he has been so successful, according to one authoritarianism expert. New York University history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat appeared on MSNBC's Ayman on Saturday, where she was asked how Trump is polling alo...

Ensuring trustworthy and ethical behaviour in intelligent logical agents
Stefania Costantini
https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.07547 https://

Ensuring trustworthy and ethical behaviour in intelligent logical agents
Autonomous Intelligent Agents are employed in many applications upon which the life and welfare of living beings and vital social functions may depend. Therefore, agents should be trustworthy. A priori certification techniques (i.e., techniques applied prior to system's deployment) can be useful, but are not sufficient for agents that evolve, and thus modify their epistemic and belief state, and for open Multi-Agent Systems, where heterogeneous agents can join or leave the system at any stage o…