Video of my Stob lecture at @calvinseminary last week: "The Human Remains: Fragility and Fulfilment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM1oEhA8ou8

Biblical Critical Theory is featured in Amazon’s Black Friday sale this year. amzn.to/4oUrtSY It is currently 55% off but pricing may fluctuate during the sale, which ends 12/2.

Whether you're an AI boomer, doomer or scoffer, we need to work out the right questions to ask about genAI while it's still in its current horseless carriage phase. Last week I joined a team of AI industry experts, researchers and entrepreneurs in Seoul to try and figure it out. aiandfaith.org

Social Contract Research Network 🚨New Seminar🚨 Dr Mary Townsend "Simone de Beauvoir and the 'Adventurer'—Navigating the Return to the Common Good" Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/18MU... YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT6H...

Social Contract Research Network Zoom seminar Tomorrow... Mary Townsend, "Simone de Beauvoir and the 'Adventurer'—Navigating the Return to the Common Good" Tu 4 Nov., 8pm Melbourne time. London: 10am; NYC: 5am. Register here for the Zoom meeting: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Yesterday I had the joy of hearing graphic novelist Clément Baloup speak about his remarkable work at the Monash European Languages Annual Lecture. Huge thanks to Dr Charlotte Mackay for organising , Dr Tess Do for coordinating, and sponsors @monashuniversity.bsky.social & @unimelb.bsky.social !

In April 2026, my book "The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity" will be launched at a symposium in Sydney, with Sandra Leonie Field, Peter Harrison and Jessica Whyte speaking (thank you all!). In-person and online attendance. Rego page: events.nd.edu.au/state-of-nat...

Next week I’ll be in Seoul for the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly, speaking on AI, Ethics & Trust: algorithmic justice, imago Dei, vocation & creation care, and accountability. If you’re there, let’s connect. #WEAGA2025 #AI #Theology #WEAGA2025

If you're in or around Grand Rapids, MI on November 18th and fancy thinking about how Artificial Ingelligence very helpfully brings into focus what it means to be human, I'd love to see you at this event: calvin.edu/events/stob-...

New Social Contract Research Network seminar Sophia Rosenfeld "Thinking About the Age of Choice" Podcast: open.spotify.com/episode/2gCZ... YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd15...

Social Contract Research Network Zoom seminar🚨Monday/Tuesday🚨 Sophia Rosenfeld (University of Pennsylvania) "Thinking about the Age of Choice" Tu 30 Sep. 11am Melbourne Mon 29 Sep. 6pm LA, 9pm NYC Info and free registration: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

New Social Contract Research Network seminar Timothy Jackson "Diverse relations to alterity: from relational physics to the transindividual" Podcast: creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/... YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=2gwsxX1KxqI

SCRN Zoom seminar🚨tomorrow🚨 Timothy Jackson (Melbourne Uni) "Diverse relations to alterity: collective individuation and subject groups in Simondon, Guattari, and chemical ecology" 16 Sep. 9am Melbourne. 15 Sep. 4pm LA, 7pm NYC. Rego: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi... @aussoccontiphil.bsky.social

New New SCRN seminar: Kristine Moruzi on children’s periodicals & the common good. 🎧Podcast version: open.spotify.com/episode/6WG4... 🎥Watch now on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYem...

⏰Last-minute reminder: 8pm Monday AEST (6am New York, 11am London) Social Contract Research Network Zoom seminar Kristine Moruzi "Children’s Periodicals and the Common Good: The Charitable Child" Register here: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Jason Ramasami from @crosslands has made this lovely animation inspired by the Babel chapter of my book Biblical Critical Theory. It dramatises the "Babelian quest" of striving to make a name for ourselves, and the libereating peace of receiving a name from a divine lover.

New video: In the age of AI, what makes us human? AI copies our wit, memory, even empathy. But is that all we are? What makes us human when machines mirror our “borrowed qualities”? Fearuting: Pascal Descartes Montaigne Hobbes Adendt Heidegger Augustine Kafka www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_OIsLN-iVE

The telos of scholarly labor, namely truth told in charity, requires institutional forms that make virtue easier, not harder "AI, proofing, and the meaning of what we do", by Lisa Herzog crookedtimber.org/2025/08/19/a...

New video: Should We Care About AI Welfare? 🤖💔 From medieval pig trials to Anthropic’s “model welfare” via Hobbes, Foucault, Augustine and Ricoeur. An exploration of AI, ethics, imagination & love. 🎥 www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdJU...

"Infinite Efficiency and Human Value" •we're living through AI's "horseless carriage" moment •mutuality and reciprocity in relating to AI •why AI is simulacral, and how that shapes how we relate to it podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i... open.spotify.com/episode/5EZD... www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN3Y...

In November I'll be giving the Stob lecture at Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI. My provisional title: "The Human Remains: Fragility and Fulfilment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence". Come along and say hello on Nov 18 if you're in the area! www.thebanner.org/our-shared-m...

If your AI could analyse your chats, what would it reveal about you? 🤖 In this video I take a philosophical look at the question of how we relate to AI, and give you a DIY AI Relational Audit to unearth hidden patterns in how you interact with your LLM. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN62...

Next week I'll be talking on the Artificial Insights podcast, on the ethics of AI. What points do you think I should make? What is the AI ethics debate missing? What are the currently under-discussed or underappreciated aspects of AI ethics? manary.haus/podcast/

AI is no panacea in language learning, but for self-paced, personalised speaking practice, it can be super-useful. I’ve built 4 free GPTs for French, German, Spanish & Italian: upload any article/novel, have a conversation, get personalised language + content feedback www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv9f...

"AI is forcing us to ask fundamental questions about the meaning and purpose of work. What’s the point of a college degree? ... I welcome these questions. We should have been asking them a long time ago, and now AI is forcing them on us all at once. Better late than never."

In this new video I interview Dr Ashok Collins about his forthcoming monograph "Jean-Luc Nancy and the Deconstruction of Christianity" in the Edinburgh University Press @edinburghup.bsky.social 'Crosscurrents' series. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYwB...

In June I had the honour of delivering the annual Isaac Armitage Lecture at the Shore School, Sydney: "Custodians of the Common Good: Christian Education in a Post-Christian World" The video is now available: www.shore.nsw.edu.au/about/news/t...

The publication process for "The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity" grinds on. Here is the proof (in both senses).

A Korean translation of Biblical Critical Theory is now available The tube map has become a series of interlocking circles Huge thanks to Kang Young-an, Son Hwa-chul, Song Yong-won, Shin Kook-won & Lee Jung-kyu for endorsements @ivpacademic.bsky.social ebook-product.kyobobook.co.kr/dig/epd/eboo...

I'm responding to copyediting queries for the state of nature book today. It's pedants' corner, and I'm loving it. Here's sthg I didn't know: A word or phrase preceded by so-called need not be enclosed in quotation marks as the expression itself indicates irony or doubt--CMS 7.59

New Social Contract Research Network Seminar: David M McCourt, "Standing up to Beijing" Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/35py... Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s... YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMiM...

Upcoming Social Contract Research Network Zoom seminar: Prof Douglas Guilfoyle @djag2.bsky.social UNSW "The Oceans as a Commons: everyone’s, no-one’s, or a public good?" Tu 29 April: 8pm Melbourne 11am London; 6am NYC Register: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi... More info: www.monash.edu/arts/languag...

There's a new special issue of the Parrhesia journal, dedicated to the work of Michel Serres: Full open access PDF: parrhesiajournal.org/wp-content/u... TOC 👇

As it continues the slow ascent of Mount Publication, "The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity" now has a webpage: www.cambridge.org/core/books/s... According to the webpage, the publication date is December 2025. And here's me reading the Introduction: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ciw6...

Upcoming Social Contract Research Network seminar: "Standing Up to Beijing and the Common Good", with David M. McCourt Tuesday 15 April , 8pm Melbourne; 2pm Abu Dhabi; 11am London; 6am New York City. Registration: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi... Details: www.monash.edu/arts/languag...

New Social Contract Research Network seminar recording: Thomas Simpson, "Cultures of Trust" YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlyh... Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2b4U...

🚨New Social Contract Research Seminar video and podcast: Amy Chandran, "Creating the Commonwealth: Power, Projection and Religion in Hobbes’s Leviathan" Apple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1Bu1... YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONem...

Reminder: Social Contract Research Network Zoom seminar this coming Tuesday. Tom Simpson, "Cultures of Trust" Tuesday 8 April. Melbourne 8pm; London 11am; New York City 6am. Free registration: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi... More info: www.monash.edu/arts/languag...

"The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity" is one step closer to coming out: it now has a cover design. Expected publication date, some time late in 2025. If you'd like to know more, here's a reading of the Introduction: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ciw6...

New Video: "Jordan Peterson & Tim Keller on Jacob's Ladder: Two Visions of Identity and Meaning" www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLXg...

In just over 24 hours' time: free Zoom seminar. Amy Chandran on Power, Projection and Religion in Hobbes's Leviathan. Tuesday 25 March, 9am Melbourne time. Monday 24 March, 6pm Florida, 10pm London. Register: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Upcoming SCRN Zoom seminar! David M. McCourt, @ucdavis.bsky.social "Standing Up to Beijing and the Common Good" Tuesday 15 April, 8pm Melbourne time | 2pm Abu Dhabi | 11am London | 6am New York City Register: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi... More info: monash.edu/arts/languag...

New Video 📺 Automated attendance tracker for university lecturers 🔹 Auto-generates Google Forms & QR codes 🔹 Up to 100 sessions/500 students 🔹 Instantly updates attendance records 🔹 Live dashboard with smart alerts Watch the full demo 🎥👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBcM... #EdTech

New video "Jordan Peterson, Russell Brand, and the modern quest for the unified self" via Descartes, Montaigne, Augustine, the Bible, Charles Taylor and Michael Hanby. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7sp...

Upcoming SCRN Zoom seminar! Tom Simpson, @wadhamoxford "Cultures of Trust" Tuesday 8 April 2025, 8pm Melbourne time Registration: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi... More info: www.monash.edu/arts/languag...

Register now for the next SCRN Zoom seminar! @amy_chandran, "Of Creating the Commonwealth: Power, Projection and Religion in Hobbes’s Leviathan" Tuesday 25 March 2025, 9am Melbourne time Rego: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

The second "common sense" video has just been published: Descartes and the Three Paradoxes of Common Sense. I'm trying to show how common sense functions ideologically, through a detailed reading of one paragraph of Descartes' "Discourse on the Method". www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGsz...

Here's the YouTube version of the first episode of the new video series on the history and ideology of common sense: Aristotle to Descartes via Donald Trump, Elon Mush, Kamala Harris, Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farrage, Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG_q...

I've just finished the first "common sense" video, tracing its origins and ideology from Aristotle to Descartes, via Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Kamala Harris, Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farrage and Anthony Albanese. Tiktok below. YouTube to follow shortly www.tiktok.com/@drchriswatk...

As part of my common good project I'm preparing a video on the subject of "common sense": its history, ideology and contemporary uses across the political spectrum and throughout society. If anyone has any interesting examples of the term, I'd love to hear about them. E.g: