iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 9h

And, yeah, I wrote a book on jihadist legal and theological debates about martyrdom operations, so, yeah, seen a few of those videos.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 9h

There’s a long history of Hasan being praised by jihadist movements. For them, this is the U.S. and the Department of Defense providing them free footage of his “martyrdom.” It will be copied and recopied, with calls to emulate him. The U.S. government would be televising jihadist propaganda.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 20h

If the AI CEO fails at being a CEO, he has a future in academia:

A picture of an AI-generated CEO saying: “We’re diversifying our diversity programme by sometimes not having one.”

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Oh, didn’t think of this as an option!

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This sent me on a personal journey — Hadith Literature Today: TikTok, X, Bluesky, or YouTube?

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Totally. Islamic studies, for example: Al-Ghazali (d. 1111), author, "The Incoherence of the Philosophers." Ibn Rushd (Averroes, d. 1198), author, "The Incoherence of the Incoherence." And, don't get me started on Ibn Taymiyya.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The U.S. is at war with a country whose system of government involves a particular set of interpretations made about Shi’a Islam in the 20th century, having just fought a 20+ year (and ongoing war) against a group with a particular set of interpretations of Sunni Islam. But, let’s cut REL majors!

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Is it possible to identify a field more misunderstood by HigherEd than the study of religion? Deans think that religion is “disappearing.” Families think studying it is “useless,” even though they vote their beliefs. Politicians think it’s only for ministers. Other Profs? Don’t get me started.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This will absolutely harm academic programs in the study of religion. Some (Reddit) will rejoice. But our REL majors went into careers in law, medicine, etc. Their salaries are *way* over what the IRS reports for the degree. Not all REL majors are clergy, folks. www.reddit.com/r/academia/s...

reddit.com

From the academia community on Reddit: Trump Moves to Cut Off Student Loans for Tons of Degrees

Explore this post and more from the academia community

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Glad that I’m not alone in this opinion

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Wrapping up a first draft translation of Ibn al-Mubārak's (d. 181/797) book of narrations, the Kitāb al-Jihād. Among the earliest collections on the subject. Putting this out there because a) I'm excited to finally get a feel for publishing things again; b) it's such a journey of a text.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

So, like, imagine that there's a field, right? It's made up of these people -- scholars -- who use all sorts of disciplinary methods. Methods like anthropology, sociology, philosophy, history, and so many more! They study religion. Now imagine *QUOTING THEM* in your story about *techno-religion.*

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Ok, sure, another "A.I. is destroying college" warning. Might we also try how the cellphone has destroyed college classrooms? And, common college spaces? Let's start there. Step foot in a hallway or classroom before class -- complete phone stares, no discussion. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/15/u...

nytimes.com

Universities Sound Warnings About A.I. Even as They Embrace It

As A.I. upends education, university leaders have been all over the map about how to respond. It can be very confusing for students.

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Reposted by Nathan S. French

Kevin Reuning @reuning.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I'll post more about this tomorrow, but I've spent the last few weeks trying to do some social network analysis on the most recent "OpenAI Swarm" You can do some interesting things with the data to identify how the different "Agents" interacted. kevinreuning.com/blog/ai_swar...

kevinreuning.com

OpenAI Swarm – Kevin Reuning

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Reading this with the exclamation point was hilarious.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

And, before the usual questions. Yes, this was a popular class. Yes, students from a variety of Christian orgs took the class (and loved it). Yes, students from no faith background took it (and loved it). Yes, it was in the general education curriculum as an elective.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Learned today that my public institution in a red state will no longer offer courses in biblical studies after this term. It's a weird feeling. Several of the legislators who created this odd environment for higher ed won't stop talking about how students need to study great texts. But, here we are.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

So, unsurprisingly, Karp and Thiel were terrible religion and philosophy students.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Karp was rejected as a student by Habermas and Thiel is a clueless reader of Girard, whom he idolized. It’s so bad that Wolfgang Palaver, a colleague of Girard’s (he eulogized him) and theologian once criticized Thiel after one of the “Antichrist” lectures, telling him to go to church.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I told some friends a few weeks ago, that in the next two years, I could see the President demanding that a state be named after him. That, or he conditions DC statehood or Puerto Rican statehood (if voted) on his name -- "Washington, DJT," for example. Once again, I need a polymarket account.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I once joked that much as the Navy as "Anchors Aweigh" and the Marine Corps has the "Marine Hymn," the Space Force will have the "Imperial March" from Star Wars. How do I open a Polymarket account?

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Surf Hueston Woods. 🏄🏻‍♂️

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Oof. Between the return of “madrasa” as a codeword and Rep. Mike Johnson alluding to taqiyya, it seems like some folks decided to rollout the dumb stuff again — 25 years after 9/11

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Typing this while Peter Thiel incorrectly interprets Girard and the Antichrist, Elon Musk funds some sort of religio-civilizational technoscape, AI bros talking about silicon gods, and the President of the United States fail to grasp the nature of a theocratic gov’t. With no religion department.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

“What all this means is that the attack on the study of Religion is part of a broader attempt to exclude certain people from the public sphere, therefore limiting their very ability to participate in our democratic society” Kudos to @profgabriele.com and @vox-magica.bsky.social

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I love that Mr T studied philosophy and theology because now both philosophy and religious studies departments across the country will claim him — all the while back-talking each other at every turn. LOL. Pity the fools, man. Pity the fools.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Oh. Oh no. We’re doing “taqiyya” again. Sigh. It’s been decades. And we are doing taqiyya again. That’s … not how this works. It’s not how any of this works.

static.klipy.com

Cigarette

Alt: A man smoking a cigarette inhales, deeply resigned

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Saw a lot of posts on here about an arrest today being like a “Night of the Long Knives.” Not an expert here, but this feels more like an “Early Afternoon of the Short Plastic Spork.”

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

So will there be a push to name a state — or D.C. — as “Trump” in the next two years?

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Reposted by Nathan S. French

Dan Chibnall @bookowl.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Great piece in the Chronicle about AI & writing with an especially important section quoting Prof. David Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social www.chronicle.com/article/prof...

But to David Perry, associate director of undergraduate studies in the history department at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and the author of a book on public scholarship, using AI to “edit” or “condense” is synonymous with using it to write. Cutting down an article or generalizing it for a broader audience is “what writing and thinking is about,” he added.

“Writing complicated things that are accessible to a public audience and that are short enough for public-audience attention spans is hard — it is harder, in many ways, than writing at length and writing only for your 20 most compatible colleagues,” Perry said. “It’s just a practice. You have to decide to put in the work.”

The work of being an academic, Perry said, is to make complicated things coherent. Michael Socolow, chair of the communications and journalism department at the University of Maine at Orono, agreed, calling it a “cop-out” for a writer to say they “only” used AI for the basic mechanics of composition. He added that he’s concerned about what senior academics model for both junior academics and their students when using AI.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

The more of these stories I see, the more I wonder why the NCAA and NAIA are let off the hook. Time for those studies as well.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

There are *so many* states with these religious shield laws and my 101 students are often genuinely surprised to know it.

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Reposted by Nathan S. French

Mae Nick Phra Khanong @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Optimist: The cup is half full Pessimist: The cup is half empty Ohio Valley: The water in the cup is full of forever chemicals

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Kevin Reuning @reuning.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

>AI adoption raises homework scores by 18% and reduces completion time by 30%, but lowers monthly exam scores by 20% within six months. High-stakes entrance-exam scores fall by 18 and 24%, with the full penalty emerging only after about two years. The losses are largest in social science subjects...

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I've taught biblical texts in my REL 101 course for years. sSudents are interested to see and hear how others have interpreted a text that many of them assumed had only one, single, true meaning. Hearing another Christian - among others - disagree is like watching democracy take shape in real time.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Thomas Jefferson -- of all people -- suggested to Peter Carr the *best* time for a student in public education to study the bible was in what would effectively be one's college years when "our reason is now mature enough to receive this object." founders.archives.gov/documents/Je...

founders.archives.gov

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Students should struggle with competing interpretations. They need to think about how that text is used to make literary references and truth claims elsewhere. They need to encounter fights over those truth claims in a public setting not subjected to AI or influencers -- or one religious authority

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I'm going to *cautiously* suggest that U.S. students should get literary instruction in the bible -- among other sacred texts -- and that the controversy that would ensue from this *should* be part of the outcome of the experience. Respectful disagreement with another post making the rounds.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 19/08/2026

i both think that students in the US should get literary instruction in the Bible (basically the equivalent of an intro religious studies course) and that doing so would be so controversial that it isn't worth the effort

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

When, as we see in so much of the academy today, professionalization means "speed," "productivity," "efficiency" -- all those things that are accelerants to A.I. use, to burnout, and to the rotting away of community and social ties -- and the responsibilities they bring. Religion matters.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

More importantly? The study of religion is one of the few spaces left to students on campus to think about the big questions of who we are, what we do, and what we believe. We *invite* those conversations. Along the way, students learn to read, to pay attention, to take a pause and *think* when...

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Every public higher education institution should have an "Introduction to Religious Studies" course in its general curriculum. A study of constitutional liberties and responsibilities, it's a training to live in one of the most religiously diverse and pluralistic societies in the world. BUT ...

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

All good! Thanks for getting back to me. I'm really bad about bouncing between X and here for this stuff.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The U.S. needs strong ties to Oman, an Indian Ocean nation and an Arabian Gulf nation. The U.S. needs strong relations with Omanis -- particularly young Omanis -- who are well into building their futures.

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The U.S. signed its first bilateral accord with an Arab Gulf State with Oman in 1833 (the Treaty of Amity and Commerce). The Sultan's envoy Ahmad bin Na'aman sailed to New York and became the first Arab diplomat accredited in the U.S. om.usembassy.gov/history-of-t...

om.usembassy.gov

History of the U.S.-Oman Relationship

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Nathan S. French @innesseff.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I didn't say much on the White House's threat to "bomb the shit" out of Oman the first time (!). I've taken students to Oman. Omanis are incredibly welcoming. I've seen first-hand the value of the U.S.-Oman relationship. This is nonsensical. The U.S.-Oman relationship extends over two centuries.

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A. M. Vincent @vincent.northsky.social · 17/08/2026

No one, ever, in all of history, has believed everything written in a religious text or performed all of the actions dictated therein, not because people are imperfect but because that is simply not how religion works, anywhere, ever, for anyone.

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