Nik Janos
@nik-janos.bsky.social
Writing a book about Northwest hydropower and writes about AI and higher ed. Professor of Sociology, California State University Chico. nikjanos.org
Reposted by Nik Janos
Nik Janos and Zach Justus in @insidehighered.com arguing nostalgia detracts from honest conversations about AI in higher education. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
No, the Pre-AI Era Was Not That Great (opinion)
Misplaced nostalgia doesn’t get us anywhere.
www.insidehighered.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Nik Janos and Zach Justus in @insidehighered.com arguing nostalgia detracts from honest conversations about AI in higher education. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
Reposted by Nik Janos
Opinion | No, the Pre-AI Era Was Not That Great
Misplaced nostalgia doesn’t get us anywhere. https://bit.ly/4pk3uwa
#EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky
Misplaced nostalgia doesn’t get us anywhere. https://bit.ly/4pk3uwa
#EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky
November 20, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Opinion | No, the Pre-AI Era Was Not That Great
Misplaced nostalgia doesn’t get us anywhere. https://bit.ly/4pk3uwa
#EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky
Misplaced nostalgia doesn’t get us anywhere. https://bit.ly/4pk3uwa
#EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky
Me and Zach Justus in @insidehighered.com popping the nostalgia bubble about pre-AI higher ed. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
No, the Pre-AI Era Was Not That Great (opinion)
Misplaced nostalgia doesn’t get us anywhere.
www.insidehighered.com
November 20, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Me and Zach Justus in @insidehighered.com popping the nostalgia bubble about pre-AI higher ed. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
Fantastic thread on nationalism as a social thing and historical process but also on the dubious ways that social scientists and the rest often practice a “methodological nationalism” to interpret social forms of all variation (networks, scales, places etc).
🧵 As an academic whose formative college and graduate experiences took place during the 'modernists' vs. 'neo-primordialist' debates about nationalism, I find the causal ideological & methodological nationalism of even left-wing social media shocking.
October 10, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Fantastic thread on nationalism as a social thing and historical process but also on the dubious ways that social scientists and the rest often practice a “methodological nationalism” to interpret social forms of all variation (networks, scales, places etc).
Reposted by Nik Janos
Probably dumb as hell to publish this on a Friday afternoon, but the clock is ticking to get @gavinnewsom.bsky.social to sign SB 79. Please share — and, if you're a Californian, please call the governor's office at (916) 445-2841 to ask for his signature. publiccomment.blog/p/newsom-s-f...
Newsom's Fateful Choice
Why the governor needs to sign SB 79
publiccomment.blog
October 3, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Probably dumb as hell to publish this on a Friday afternoon, but the clock is ticking to get @gavinnewsom.bsky.social to sign SB 79. Please share — and, if you're a Californian, please call the governor's office at (916) 445-2841 to ask for his signature. publiccomment.blog/p/newsom-s-f...
Reposted by Nik Janos
An assassin writes Bella Ciao in the same breath as a Notices Your Bulge meme on his bullets. One of the government responses is a practicing Hindu asserting that the fundamentalist Christian victim will join him in a Norse pagan afterlife. Welcome to the epistemic collapse.
September 12, 2025 at 4:17 PM
An assassin writes Bella Ciao in the same breath as a Notices Your Bulge meme on his bullets. One of the government responses is a practicing Hindu asserting that the fundamentalist Christian victim will join him in a Norse pagan afterlife. Welcome to the epistemic collapse.
Bingo! What a post.
I don’t think it’s widely appreciated how much the insular circles of the extremely online have fostered a generation of extremely smart people talking about completely fictional futures based on various plausible but unhinged fan fictions about how the world works.
June 21, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Bingo! What a post.
Joins a long list of ways people treat “the environment” as a means to an end.
Ex: I don’t like thing. Environment environment! Thing bad.
Ex: I don’t like thing. Environment environment! Thing bad.
May 26, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Joins a long list of ways people treat “the environment” as a means to an end.
Ex: I don’t like thing. Environment environment! Thing bad.
Ex: I don’t like thing. Environment environment! Thing bad.
Reposted by Nik Janos
To underscore its importance, my new article w/
@fredstaffordcs.bsky.social came out on the day of the huge Iberian blackout.
We argue the left/liberal's fixation on increasing renewables often downplays (or rejects) how grid reliability must be central to any winning electricity politics.
@fredstaffordcs.bsky.social came out on the day of the huge Iberian blackout.
We argue the left/liberal's fixation on increasing renewables often downplays (or rejects) how grid reliability must be central to any winning electricity politics.
April 29, 2025 at 12:27 PM
To underscore its importance, my new article w/
@fredstaffordcs.bsky.social came out on the day of the huge Iberian blackout.
We argue the left/liberal's fixation on increasing renewables often downplays (or rejects) how grid reliability must be central to any winning electricity politics.
@fredstaffordcs.bsky.social came out on the day of the huge Iberian blackout.
We argue the left/liberal's fixation on increasing renewables often downplays (or rejects) how grid reliability must be central to any winning electricity politics.
Reposted by Nik Janos
people wanted a luxury belief presidency that would give them the means to live out the indulgences they craved while making them richer. They got a bunch of meth tweakers ripping everything out of the walls
April 17, 2025 at 8:20 PM
people wanted a luxury belief presidency that would give them the means to live out the indulgences they craved while making them richer. They got a bunch of meth tweakers ripping everything out of the walls
The Golden State and Canada have always shared so much in common.
Sure, you-know-who is trying to stir things up back in DC, but don't let that ruin your vacation plans.
We’re launching a new international campaign to welcome and encourage Canadians to visit the Golden State.
Sure, you-know-who is trying to stir things up back in DC, but don't let that ruin your vacation plans.
We’re launching a new international campaign to welcome and encourage Canadians to visit the Golden State.
April 15, 2025 at 8:22 PM
So deglobalize textiles but globalize American prisons. They’re gonna offshore human rights abuses of Americans if they can.
Trump says he'd like to deport US citizens to El Salvador: "I'd like to go a step further. I don't know what the laws are, we always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways... I'd like to include them in the group of people to get out of the country"
April 14, 2025 at 7:15 PM
So deglobalize textiles but globalize American prisons. They’re gonna offshore human rights abuses of Americans if they can.
Paging Max Weber and Wendy Brown: we need a new ethic of responsibility.
The corollary of “with great power comes great responsibility” is “with no power comes no responsibility” and what we’re discovering is that most of our institutions and leaders fear responsibility more than they want power, and will happily cede the latter to avoid the former
April 9, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Paging Max Weber and Wendy Brown: we need a new ethic of responsibility.
Reposted by Nik Janos
The message from the Left should be: tariffs bad, industrial policy good.
Sure, there are niche cases where tariffs might be useful as part of industrial policy, but it really weakens the message to add qualifiers. Fight unreservedly against the thing destroying the economy.
Sure, there are niche cases where tariffs might be useful as part of industrial policy, but it really weakens the message to add qualifiers. Fight unreservedly against the thing destroying the economy.
April 9, 2025 at 5:19 PM
The message from the Left should be: tariffs bad, industrial policy good.
Sure, there are niche cases where tariffs might be useful as part of industrial policy, but it really weakens the message to add qualifiers. Fight unreservedly against the thing destroying the economy.
Sure, there are niche cases where tariffs might be useful as part of industrial policy, but it really weakens the message to add qualifiers. Fight unreservedly against the thing destroying the economy.
Reposted by Nik Janos
This NYTimes story exemplifies one of the stupidest aspects of DOGE's crusade to "cut government spending." DOGE fired a NOAA employee who supervises a dozen NW salmon hatcheries to ensure they comply with the Endangered Species Act and other laws and it may screw up salmon harvests for years. 1/14
NOAA Staffing Cuts Threaten Years of Salmon Harvests (Gift Article)
In Washington, where salmon is a multibillion dollar industry, government staff terminations and budget freezes may put salmon production at risk.
www.nytimes.com
April 9, 2025 at 3:09 PM
This NYTimes story exemplifies one of the stupidest aspects of DOGE's crusade to "cut government spending." DOGE fired a NOAA employee who supervises a dozen NW salmon hatcheries to ensure they comply with the Endangered Species Act and other laws and it may screw up salmon harvests for years. 1/14
Reposted by Nik Janos
imagine the Downfall meltdown scene as an online all hands Teams meeting
twitter is now “what if the fuhrerbunker had a slack”
April 8, 2025 at 7:22 PM
imagine the Downfall meltdown scene as an online all hands Teams meeting
Reposted by Nik Janos
We're tracking student visa revocations at Inside Higher Ed.
If you know of any that aren't on our map--or want to report numbers from your own institution--email me (liam.knox@insidehighered.com) or @amowreader.com (ashley.mowreader@insidehigered.com)
www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...
If you know of any that aren't on our map--or want to report numbers from your own institution--email me (liam.knox@insidehighered.com) or @amowreader.com (ashley.mowreader@insidehigered.com)
www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...
Where Students Have Had Their Visas Revoked
The Trump administration has quietly revoked hundreds of student visas across the country, wrecking havoc on the system.
www.insidehighered.com
April 8, 2025 at 7:18 PM
We're tracking student visa revocations at Inside Higher Ed.
If you know of any that aren't on our map--or want to report numbers from your own institution--email me (liam.knox@insidehighered.com) or @amowreader.com (ashley.mowreader@insidehigered.com)
www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...
If you know of any that aren't on our map--or want to report numbers from your own institution--email me (liam.knox@insidehighered.com) or @amowreader.com (ashley.mowreader@insidehigered.com)
www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...
Reposted by Nik Janos
I want to tear my hair out when I see people cheering charts like in this skeet.
From a climate change mitigation perspective the ONLY thing that matters is ABSOLUTE carbon emissions — not the ratio of renewable to hydrocarbons, not the energy intensivity per unit of output, or anything else.
From a climate change mitigation perspective the ONLY thing that matters is ABSOLUTE carbon emissions — not the ratio of renewable to hydrocarbons, not the energy intensivity per unit of output, or anything else.
NEW | World surpasses 40% clean power in 2024, driven by a RECORD rise in renewables 📈
Solar has DOUBLED in just three years, remaining the world’s fastest-growing source of new electricity and the engine of the energy transition ⚡
ember-energy.org/lat...
#GER2025
Solar has DOUBLED in just three years, remaining the world’s fastest-growing source of new electricity and the engine of the energy transition ⚡
ember-energy.org/lat...
#GER2025
April 8, 2025 at 10:22 AM
I want to tear my hair out when I see people cheering charts like in this skeet.
From a climate change mitigation perspective the ONLY thing that matters is ABSOLUTE carbon emissions — not the ratio of renewable to hydrocarbons, not the energy intensivity per unit of output, or anything else.
From a climate change mitigation perspective the ONLY thing that matters is ABSOLUTE carbon emissions — not the ratio of renewable to hydrocarbons, not the energy intensivity per unit of output, or anything else.
Reposted by Nik Janos
We're gonna do a covid supply shock to ourselves, I really think this needs to be the message, because we all lived through that and nothing makes the complete disruption of global supply chains more visceral
"On a recent visit to Shoprite, where Collins bought chopped meat, her typical 3 lb meat purchase cost $16, forcing her to take the $8 version instead. How would the younger generation cope, she wondered. "They are just getting out into this world where it has become so tough to survive."
Some US consumers stockpile goods ahead of Trump's new tariffs
Pushing a shopping cart down the aisle of a Walmart Supercenter, Thomas Jennings, 53, loaded up on juices, condiments and whatever he could think of.
www.reuters.com
April 8, 2025 at 12:14 PM
We're gonna do a covid supply shock to ourselves, I really think this needs to be the message, because we all lived through that and nothing makes the complete disruption of global supply chains more visceral
Reposted by Nik Janos
In brighter news CPE is going to keep fighting for public policy action until the bitter end. A new initiative we’re launching:
publicenterprise.org/report/enhan...
publicenterprise.org/report/enhan...
Enhanced Geothermal Consortium for the Mountain West
Read the full report here.
Next-generation geothermal technologies are at the frontier of energy development in the United States. Drawing on drilling techniques developed during the shale boom, en...
publicenterprise.org
April 4, 2025 at 3:50 PM
In brighter news CPE is going to keep fighting for public policy action until the bitter end. A new initiative we’re launching:
publicenterprise.org/report/enhan...
publicenterprise.org/report/enhan...
Reposted by Nik Janos
Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
April 3, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
What did we all think four decades of a right wing anti-government crusade meant? Vibes? Essays?
April 1, 2025 at 9:01 PM
What did we all think four decades of a right wing anti-government crusade meant? Vibes? Essays?
Reposted by Nik Janos
Wrapping up my weekend trilogy on education. Please share with any educators you know.
open.substack.com/pub/contrapt...
open.substack.com/pub/contrapt...
What Makes a Good Teacher?
The timeless question of education beneath the urgent crises of 2025
open.substack.com
March 31, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Wrapping up my weekend trilogy on education. Please share with any educators you know.
open.substack.com/pub/contrapt...
open.substack.com/pub/contrapt...
Reposted by Nik Janos
The environmental impact of AI is entirely overblown. There are a lot of reasons to decry AI. AI’s energy use isn’t one of them.
All computation (across every type of computer) uses less energy than aluminum refining.
All computation (across every type of computer) uses less energy than aluminum refining.
It's not knee-jerk. It's an environmentally-destructive technology designed to fetishize idea over effort and excise artists from art in order to make techlords richer by plagiarizing pre-existing material made by *actual* creative people and not quote-unquote "prompt engineers."
I get the knee-jerk reaction against generative AI, especially with how much of it gets wrapped up in the whole Silicon Valley tech-bro culture.
But I fear we’re seriously missing the mark in writing it off entirely like this. There’s a ton of creativity happening with advanced prompt engineering.
But I fear we’re seriously missing the mark in writing it off entirely like this. There’s a ton of creativity happening with advanced prompt engineering.
March 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
The environmental impact of AI is entirely overblown. There are a lot of reasons to decry AI. AI’s energy use isn’t one of them.
All computation (across every type of computer) uses less energy than aluminum refining.
All computation (across every type of computer) uses less energy than aluminum refining.
I am enjoying writing my current book, perhaps the most fun I’ve had in my career, but a day doesn’t go by that I ponder “what the hell am I doing and why am I doing it?”
Everyone I know personally who has written a book reports afterward that a) the process was utterly miserable and b) the book doesn't sell.
And yet people keep writing books! I don't get it.
And yet people keep writing books! I don't get it.
How Not To Write A Book
aka How to Bulldoze Your Life For Several Months
annehelen.substack.com
March 24, 2025 at 6:33 PM
I am enjoying writing my current book, perhaps the most fun I’ve had in my career, but a day doesn’t go by that I ponder “what the hell am I doing and why am I doing it?”