Back to Home11/18/2025, 11:02:54 AM

Rarity Roulette – an interactive simulator for mass screenings

1 points
1 comments

Mood

thoughtful

Sentiment

positive

Category

science

Key topics

data visualization

false positives

mass screenings

Rarity Roulette is an interactive simulator that helps visualize the impact of false positives in mass screenings for low-prevalence conditions, sparking discussion on its relevance across various domains.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Light discussion

First comment

N/A

Peak period

2

Hour 1

Avg / period

2

Comment distribution2 data points

Based on 2 loaded comments

Key moments

  1. 01Story posted

    11/18/2025, 11:02:54 AM

    11h ago

    Step 01
  2. 02First comment

    11/18/2025, 11:02:54 AM

    0s after posting

    Step 02
  3. 03Peak activity

    2 comments in Hour 1

    Hottest window of the conversation

    Step 03
  4. 04Latest activity

    11/18/2025, 11:06:49 AM

    10h ago

    Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (1 comments)
Showing 2 comments
Vera_Wilde
11h ago
An interactive simulator for visualizing how false positives explode in mass screenings for low-prevalence problems. Relevant across diverse domains including security (e.g., Chat Control; iBorderCtrl), medicine (e.g., mammography; PSA testing), and so much more.

The purpose is to begin to more easily visualize how prevalence, sensitivity, specificity, investigative capacity, and strategic behavior interact to shape real-world outcomes.

Interactive tool: https://verawilde.github.io/rarity-roulette/

Would love feedback, critiques, and ideas for improvements.

Vera_Wilde
10h ago
I'm especially interested in feedback on the modeling choices — prevalence curves, specificity sliders, and whether (and how) to add correlated errors or adversarial behavior.

If anyone works in health tech, security, or trust & safety, I'd also love to hear how this maps to your practical experience with low-prevalence detection.

If you test the simulator, I'd love to hear what surprised you most — especially if something behaved differently than you expected. Thanks in advance!

ID: 45963606Type: storyLast synced: 11/18/2025, 11:05:40 AM

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