Andrew Perfors

I just changed instances. Hello #aus.social! Glad to be here!

Here's an #introduction.

I'm a #prof in computational #cogsci at #UniMelb. I use behavioural experiments and mathematical models to study how people #learn and #reason. I think a lot about how we make #inferences from sparse #data, how we #share information with each other, and how this affects our #cultural and #informational #systems.

I am a #parent to two amazing kids, love #teaching #rstats to psychology undergraduates, am an #American living in #Australia (citizen of both) in the beautiful #Dandenongs, and am #trans (see post below). I try not to take myself too seriously, especially on social media.

https://perfors.net/blog/im-transgender-thats-okay/

I'm transgender, and that's okay | Andrew Perfors

This is the post where I come out as transgender and share various thoughts I have about that

Andrew Perfors
Nov 20, 2022 at 10:24amWeb
Show threadJennifer Moore 😷Nov 20, 2022
@AndyPerfors I really like your post about being trans! I would "follow" you based on that, except I already was :-)
Show threadAndrew PerforsNov 20, 2022

@unchartedworlds Thanks so much! It's probably been more widely read than any of my papers 😂 but that's fine because I am kinda happy with it too. Glad you liked it, and I'm glad Mastodon gave us a chance to meet!

(I recognise you from my previous instance but not from twitter, apologies if you were there and I misremember... blame it on the flight or fight mode I was in whenever I was there, lol)

Show threadJennifer Moore 😷Nov 20, 2022
@AndyPerfors Yeah, no I didn't see you on Twitter - I think I found you randomly when I got here the other week and was poking around for interesting people to follow :-)
Show threadAndrew PerforsNov 20, 2022
@unchartedworlds It's funny because I initially found the lack of search annoying (and occasionally still do) but I'm growing to like it more and more. I'm finding that the people I follow are a lot more diverse because you have to do so much more random exploration and poking around. And the different timelines help a lot too!
Show threadAnaNov 20, 2022
@AndyPerfors how do you change instances?
Show threadRed RabbitDec 11, 2022
@ananas @AndyPerfors it’s in settings, you sign up on a new one and then you can transfer your current followers and follows to it, it will also link back to your old posts
Show threadChrisAdamsEcon Nov 20, 2022
@AndyPerfors The #Dandenongs are one of my favourite places in the world. I miss them.
Show threadSteve MostNov 21, 2022
@AndyPerfors What inspired you to move to a different instance? Does it change your experience on Mastodon?
Show threadAndrew PerforsNov 21, 2022

@SBMost Mainly I just realised that I kept perusing the local timeline on aus.social rather than my actual local timeline -- that and I kept feeling like I must be bothering people on my instance, tech.lgbt, by talking about the things I wanted to be talking about. (To be clear everyone was lovely, nobody said I was annoying, this was all from my own head; but it captured a sense that I didn't feel like I really fit that well -- it had tech people more in the sense of "hacker" than "academia", and while I love the LGBT community I don't actually tend to converse about these topics that much).

So the main difference is that I'm enjoying the local timeline a lot more, and feel less anxious about posting because I don't have that voice in my head saying I'm not a good fit here. It was a nice instance with good people, nothing objectively wrong.

Show threadAnde JacobsonNov 24, 2022

@AndyPerfors Thank you for sharing your real self here on Mastodon. I enjoyed reading your post and learning about your journey as a trans man.

In my area (the SF Bay Area/Silicon Valley) there is a huge amount of diversity which makes it a very culturally rich community overall, not just from the standpoint of gender but across most everything humankind has to offer. I've often wondered if there's a way humankind could divorce itself from its forced categorization of darned near everything.

Show threadAndrew PerforsNov 25, 2022

@goodreedAJ Thanks for the kind words! Glad you liked my post :)

I lived in the Bay Area for a few years (albeit a while ago, almost 20 years, so I'm sure a lot has changed). Still, I definitely found the same as you -- I found it to be a very welcoming place for differences of all kinds, especially relative to other places I had lived till then. Melbourne feels similar in many ways!

Show threadLooking for explanations…Jan 7, 2023
@AndyPerfors Hi Andy. I was already following you but really enjoyed reading the post & can identify with aspects of your experience. I’m not trans, but am self diagnosing as autistic (very late!) Dealing with not fitting in & a somewhat traumatic child/teenagerhood meant I became quite good at masking & suppressing emotions. I heard people saying it was good to just “be yourself” & wondering what the heck that meant! I have a grad dip in psych, but am afraid stats was not my favourite part.😁
Show threadAndrew PerforsJan 8, 2023
@Susan60 💙 I totally get this! (having major realisations about oneself at a late age, not the dislike of stats lol). Glad my story resonated with you! Good luck in figuring emotions out, those darn things cause so many problems 😂
Show threadLooking for explanations…Jan 9, 2023
@AndyPerfors They do, but can also be the cause of much joy. 😊