Nathan S. French
@innesseff.bsky.social
Researching & Teaching -- Religious Studies, Islamic Studies, Religion & Law, Jihadi-Salafi Studies, 9/11
Baseball spectator.
Baseball spectator.
Just spotted a typo in an assignment, spelling Emile Durkheim's name as "Drunkenhime."
First, a great way to ensure I know that A.I. usage was a probably kept to a minimum.
Second, that's immediately going into the REL 101 course notes. Fantastic stuff.
First, a great way to ensure I know that A.I. usage was a probably kept to a minimum.
Second, that's immediately going into the REL 101 course notes. Fantastic stuff.
January 15, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Just spotted a typo in an assignment, spelling Emile Durkheim's name as "Drunkenhime."
First, a great way to ensure I know that A.I. usage was a probably kept to a minimum.
Second, that's immediately going into the REL 101 course notes. Fantastic stuff.
First, a great way to ensure I know that A.I. usage was a probably kept to a minimum.
Second, that's immediately going into the REL 101 course notes. Fantastic stuff.
Reposted by Nathan S. French
Want to report on everything?
Report on religion.
Trust me: It's a wild ride.
Report on religion.
Trust me: It's a wild ride.
January 15, 2026 at 1:44 AM
Want to report on everything?
Report on religion.
Trust me: It's a wild ride.
Report on religion.
Trust me: It's a wild ride.
Reposted by Nathan S. French
🧵In my expert opinion as a researcher of vehicle ramming attacks, what has been publicly described in the video evidence does not support the claim that Renee Nicole Good was attempting a deliberate ramming attack when she was shot in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. 1/7
January 8, 2026 at 9:13 PM
🧵In my expert opinion as a researcher of vehicle ramming attacks, what has been publicly described in the video evidence does not support the claim that Renee Nicole Good was attempting a deliberate ramming attack when she was shot in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. 1/7
Reposted by Nathan S. French
Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).
January 8, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).
Reposted by Nathan S. French
“He described (Renee Good) as a devoted Christian who took part in youth mission trips to Northern Ireland when she was younger.” www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Woman killed by ICE agent in Minneapolis was a mother of 3, poet and new to the city
The woman shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis was a U.S. citizen and mother of a 6-year-old. In social media accounts, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin...
www.mprnews.org
January 8, 2026 at 5:39 PM
“He described (Renee Good) as a devoted Christian who took part in youth mission trips to Northern Ireland when she was younger.” www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Reposted by Nathan S. French
Semester ended.
ChatGPT's growth plateaued and appears to have started to collapse, this chart is kinda hard to read so it's hard to tell if it's down 22% week over week, or whether on a three month basis traffic is down. Either way, this is not good
www.similarweb.com/corp/wp-cont...
www.similarweb.com/corp/wp-cont...
January 8, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Semester ended.
Somehow it’s completely wrong and yet carefully calculated to infuriate both the “Deus Vult” crowd AND jihadists.
Helping The Kid with some research for a school project, and read this in one of his books. 🫠
January 6, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Somehow it’s completely wrong and yet carefully calculated to infuriate both the “Deus Vult” crowd AND jihadists.
Hard part about this is that increasingly universities don’t value peer review in workload calculations. It’s often unrecognized work now that we’ll do as some sort of beneficent contribution to the field. I mean, yes do them — I do! — but that’s a real problem moving forward.
Unless I’m literally already doing others, I always say yes to peer review. Please, do it. Especially if you’re stably employed (come onnnnnn).
Oof, what a time to do what I’ve just done: taking on the editorship of an academic journal. Dear everyone, please say yes to my peer review requests and get them done expeditiously. Please and thank you in advance :)
January 6, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Hard part about this is that increasingly universities don’t value peer review in workload calculations. It’s often unrecognized work now that we’ll do as some sort of beneficent contribution to the field. I mean, yes do them — I do! — but that’s a real problem moving forward.
Rather stunned at the noticeable lack of the Melian Dialogue in the Discourse (tm) right now. Did they all just give up on Thucydides?
January 6, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Rather stunned at the noticeable lack of the Melian Dialogue in the Discourse (tm) right now. Did they all just give up on Thucydides?
There’s probably a Foreign Affairs or Atlantic essay to be written comparing the destruction of the White House’s East Wing and Trump’s hypothetical billionaire-funded ballroom and the destruction of Maduro’s presidency and Trump’s hypothetical billionaire-funded New Venezuela.
January 4, 2026 at 5:15 PM
There’s probably a Foreign Affairs or Atlantic essay to be written comparing the destruction of the White House’s East Wing and Trump’s hypothetical billionaire-funded ballroom and the destruction of Maduro’s presidency and Trump’s hypothetical billionaire-funded New Venezuela.
Reposted by Nathan S. French
Disappointed to read on LinkedIn that the Library of Arabic Literature (@libraryarablit.bsky.social) is ceasing publication with the new year due to the end of grant funding from NYUAD
January 1, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Disappointed to read on LinkedIn that the Library of Arabic Literature (@libraryarablit.bsky.social) is ceasing publication with the new year due to the end of grant funding from NYUAD
Each year in my Religion 101 course, I ask students a few conversational questions. Since before the pandemic, the overwhelming majority of students will report having *no* problems dating someone of another religion but will *not* date someone of differing political views.
Everyone has a list of so-called "red flags" when they're dating. And for some, especially younger Americans, different political views is a relationship deal breaker.
Majority of Gen Z swipe left on dating people with opposite political views
Everyone has a list of so-called "red flags" when they're dating. And for some, especially younger Americans, different political views is a relationship deal breaker.
n.pr
December 31, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Each year in my Religion 101 course, I ask students a few conversational questions. Since before the pandemic, the overwhelming majority of students will report having *no* problems dating someone of another religion but will *not* date someone of differing political views.
Are there any essays that look at how user experiences with LLMs like ChatGPT change if they interact with it as “it” or as an object rather than a “you”?
Why, yes, I have been reading Martin Buber, why do you ask?
Why, yes, I have been reading Martin Buber, why do you ask?
December 29, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Are there any essays that look at how user experiences with LLMs like ChatGPT change if they interact with it as “it” or as an object rather than a “you”?
Why, yes, I have been reading Martin Buber, why do you ask?
Why, yes, I have been reading Martin Buber, why do you ask?
Make a Bond movie academic:
“Dean No”
“Dean No”
make a Bond movie academic:
A View to a Shill: Tech Boosterism and the Invention of the Crisis of Higher Education
A View to a Shill: Tech Boosterism and the Invention of the Crisis of Higher Education
make a Bond movie academic:
Publish or Perish Another Day
Publish or Perish Another Day
December 27, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Make a Bond movie academic:
“Dean No”
“Dean No”
This will end with him “discovering” something strangely close to the Umayyad client (mawla) system, won’t it?
Probably should just go ahead and take a *quick* glance at how that went for the Umayyads.
Probably should just go ahead and take a *quick* glance at how that went for the Umayyads.
I had missed this latest delirium by Adrian Vermeule on birthright citizenship
'Common law?! NAH, it's the Roman law of adoption that should govern the interpretation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution!'
thenewdigest.substack.com/p/immigratio...
'Common law?! NAH, it's the Roman law of adoption that should govern the interpretation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution!'
thenewdigest.substack.com/p/immigratio...
December 27, 2025 at 12:41 AM
This will end with him “discovering” something strangely close to the Umayyad client (mawla) system, won’t it?
Probably should just go ahead and take a *quick* glance at how that went for the Umayyads.
Probably should just go ahead and take a *quick* glance at how that went for the Umayyads.
Reposted by Nathan S. French
Since the Internet Archive has popped back into relevance tonight, just an FYI: It's one of a handful of tech nonprofits that have low-key become super important *in general* over the years, and perhaps especially this year.
I feel like there’s a story to be done on the under-recognized importance of tech nonprofits to modern journalism.
E.g.:
• Signal
• RECAP/Courtlistener
• Internet Archive/Wayback Machine
• Wikipedia/Wikimedia
See also: nonprofit outlets like AP, ProPublica, and RNS, obvi.
E.g.:
• Signal
• RECAP/Courtlistener
• Internet Archive/Wayback Machine
• Wikipedia/Wikimedia
See also: nonprofit outlets like AP, ProPublica, and RNS, obvi.
December 23, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Since the Internet Archive has popped back into relevance tonight, just an FYI: It's one of a handful of tech nonprofits that have low-key become super important *in general* over the years, and perhaps especially this year.
Let the reader (or film viewer) understand.
December 19, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Let the reader (or film viewer) understand.
As someone working in Middle East and Islamic studies, and who worked thorugh the closure of a religion program, what is occurring at UNC is unthinkable and unconscionable. Our fields will be the worse for this loss. But, there's something else (1/3)
dailytarheel.com/article/univ...
dailytarheel.com/article/univ...
UNC cuts all six area studies research centers, effective 2026
As part of the University's plan to make $70 million in budget cuts across the institution, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nate Knuffman projected that cutting 14 centers and institutes in...
dailytarheel.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:11 PM
As someone working in Middle East and Islamic studies, and who worked thorugh the closure of a religion program, what is occurring at UNC is unthinkable and unconscionable. Our fields will be the worse for this loss. But, there's something else (1/3)
dailytarheel.com/article/univ...
dailytarheel.com/article/univ...
Oof. Real.
No it’s ok we can cut all the area studies programs. We’ll just hire one “global studies“ Prof with a degree in English literature.
December 18, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Oof. Real.
I love this. Love it. I would add, though, a few frictions:
1) Publish less — Almost all in academia feel pressure to publish more. This might be b/c of administrative “metrics”, labor contract. For some publishing is the profession. AI in academic publishing will accelerate erosions. Publish less.
1) Publish less — Almost all in academia feel pressure to publish more. This might be b/c of administrative “metrics”, labor contract. For some publishing is the profession. AI in academic publishing will accelerate erosions. Publish less.
"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction."
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books
We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
www.publicbooks.org
December 17, 2025 at 10:11 PM
I love this. Love it. I would add, though, a few frictions:
1) Publish less — Almost all in academia feel pressure to publish more. This might be b/c of administrative “metrics”, labor contract. For some publishing is the profession. AI in academic publishing will accelerate erosions. Publish less.
1) Publish less — Almost all in academia feel pressure to publish more. This might be b/c of administrative “metrics”, labor contract. For some publishing is the profession. AI in academic publishing will accelerate erosions. Publish less.
Lessen the demand for "productivity" and watch how quickly these fake citations begin to dissipate into the ether. Why? Because they will be caught by peer reviewers. Because faculty won't feel pressure to "produce" for "metrics."
Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 17, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Lessen the demand for "productivity" and watch how quickly these fake citations begin to dissipate into the ether. Why? Because they will be caught by peer reviewers. Because faculty won't feel pressure to "produce" for "metrics."
Reposted by Nathan S. French
Guest Post: Academic Publishing Is Not Fit for the Future – If We Don’t Act Now, The Vital Role Research Plays in Society Is at Risk scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/12/11/g...
Guest Post: Academic Publishing Is Not Fit for the Future – If We Don’t Act Now, The Vital Role Research Plays in Society Is at Risk - The Scholarly Kitchen
Academic publishing ia reaching a breaking point. Unless we redesign it, we risk stalling the very progress we seek – with consequences impacting research, education and public trust in academia.
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org
December 11, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Guest Post: Academic Publishing Is Not Fit for the Future – If We Don’t Act Now, The Vital Role Research Plays in Society Is at Risk scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/12/11/g...
Relieved to see a managing director at Cambridge University Press recognize the problems that have beset academic publishing.
1) Too many publications, specifically journal articles
2) Academics need to press for fewer publications of higher quality
1) Too many publications, specifically journal articles
2) Academics need to press for fewer publications of higher quality
Guest Post: Academic Publishing Is Not Fit for the Future – If We Don’t Act Now, The Vital Role Research Plays in Society Is at Risk scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/12/11/g...
Guest Post: Academic Publishing Is Not Fit for the Future – If We Don’t Act Now, The Vital Role Research Plays in Society Is at Risk - The Scholarly Kitchen
Academic publishing ia reaching a breaking point. Unless we redesign it, we risk stalling the very progress we seek – with consequences impacting research, education and public trust in academia.
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org
December 11, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Relieved to see a managing director at Cambridge University Press recognize the problems that have beset academic publishing.
1) Too many publications, specifically journal articles
2) Academics need to press for fewer publications of higher quality
1) Too many publications, specifically journal articles
2) Academics need to press for fewer publications of higher quality
Reposted by Nathan S. French
“A Catholic school without at least one full-time theology and religious studies faculty member will find it harder to live out its Catholic identity and distinguish itself from other private schools and even secular public schools.”
religionnews.com/2025/12/02/w...
religionnews.com/2025/12/02/w...
When Catholic colleges cut theology majors, what happens to Catholic identity?
(RNS) — Just 63% of Catholic higher education institutions have theology or religious studies departments, down from 69% in 2016.
religionnews.com
December 10, 2025 at 4:30 PM
“A Catholic school without at least one full-time theology and religious studies faculty member will find it harder to live out its Catholic identity and distinguish itself from other private schools and even secular public schools.”
religionnews.com/2025/12/02/w...
religionnews.com/2025/12/02/w...
December 10, 2025 at 1:17 PM