Nathan K. Hensley
@nathankhensley.bsky.social
Action without Hope (2025) • Forms of Empire (2016) • Fresno, Silver Spring • https://www.nathankhensley.net/ • he/him/his • Everything here in personal capacity only
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo242060390.html
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo242060390.html
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
A huge thanks to @llassabe.bsky.social for inviting me to spend some time talking about AI in higher ed on American Campus!
Higher ed’s rush to adopt AI with Justin Raden - American Campus Podcast
grift, edtech, enshittificationReferences and suggested readings:Justin Raden. October 23, 2025. Higher Ed’s Rush to Adopt AI is About So Much More Than AI. Defector. American Vandal podcast and ...
americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:59 PM
A huge thanks to @llassabe.bsky.social for inviting me to spend some time talking about AI in higher ed on American Campus!
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
This is what our elite institutions, the country's largest companies, and law enforcement are busy capitulating to. But inspiring to me that it is friends, neighbors, and normies in what look to be pajamas who stand up against fascism in ways our leaders don't. We must remember both of these facts.
November 25, 2025 at 6:23 PM
This is what our elite institutions, the country's largest companies, and law enforcement are busy capitulating to. But inspiring to me that it is friends, neighbors, and normies in what look to be pajamas who stand up against fascism in ways our leaders don't. We must remember both of these facts.
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
This sucks; what are we even doing?
November 25, 2025 at 4:58 PM
This sucks; what are we even doing?
important to realize just how seriously feelings of powerlessness in the face of vast structures & a learned understanding of the futility of individual effort are generational givens that anybody my age or older (work hard! succeed! things work out!) has no way to fully grasp—but we need to try
Young people feel like we've lost agency over our lives. We can't *really* pick where to live, or whether to change jobs, or how many kids to have -- the cost of living makes us feel trapped.
Younger candidates can powerfully speak to that emotional truth. talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/young-c...
Younger candidates can powerfully speak to that emotional truth. talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/young-c...
Young Candidates Can Speak to the Affordability Crisis Because They’re Living It
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
important to realize just how seriously feelings of powerlessness in the face of vast structures & a learned understanding of the futility of individual effort are generational givens that anybody my age or older (work hard! succeed! things work out!) has no way to fully grasp—but we need to try
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
We @uam-umd.bsky.social won. Faculty packed town halls, talked to their colleagues and collected hundreds of petition signatures. Now UMD is coughing up $8.75m, during a deficit, to fund faculty whose research is under attack. Not enough, but a helluva thing for a union the state calls illegal.
$8.75M Investment Supports ‘Research Resilience’… | Maryland Today
UMD, MPower Funds Combine to Help Preserve Institutional Capabilities, Lab Operations and More
today.umd.edu
November 25, 2025 at 2:32 PM
We @uam-umd.bsky.social won. Faculty packed town halls, talked to their colleagues and collected hundreds of petition signatures. Now UMD is coughing up $8.75m, during a deficit, to fund faculty whose research is under attack. Not enough, but a helluva thing for a union the state calls illegal.
the code is PENN-HOLIDAY25 -- get yours now!
Ah, @pennpress.bsky.social has just announced their holiday sale! 40% off means that the paperback of my book on philosophy's encounter with "the public intellectual," Thinking in Public, is about $20.
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
Thinking in Public – Penn Press
Long before we began to speak of "public intellectuals," the ideas of "the public" and "the intellectual" raised consternation among many European philosophe...
www.pennpress.org
November 24, 2025 at 8:34 PM
the code is PENN-HOLIDAY25 -- get yours now!
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
Ah, @pennpress.bsky.social has just announced their holiday sale! 40% off means that the paperback of my book on philosophy's encounter with "the public intellectual," Thinking in Public, is about $20.
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
Thinking in Public – Penn Press
Long before we began to speak of "public intellectuals," the ideas of "the public" and "the intellectual" raised consternation among many European philosophe...
www.pennpress.org
November 24, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Ah, @pennpress.bsky.social has just announced their holiday sale! 40% off means that the paperback of my book on philosophy's encounter with "the public intellectual," Thinking in Public, is about $20.
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
100% of the historical analysis for 60% of the price.
www.pennpress.org/978081222434...
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
📽️ The recording from our widely popular #RSVPDigiEvent "How to Get Published in an Academic Journal" is now live. We had a record-breaking 101 registrants for this panel! Since we did not quite hit that number in attendance, we know many will be interested to watch/re-watch: youtu.be/sP5Y1iicKJ0
How to Get Published in Academic Journal
YouTube video by Research Society for Victorian Periodicals
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 7:37 PM
📽️ The recording from our widely popular #RSVPDigiEvent "How to Get Published in an Academic Journal" is now live. We had a record-breaking 101 registrants for this panel! Since we did not quite hit that number in attendance, we know many will be interested to watch/re-watch: youtu.be/sP5Y1iicKJ0
Just ordered! At $20.97 this works out to LESS THAN $1 AN ESSAY for, e.g. @asheeshksi.bsky.social on "Board of Trustees"; @cnewf.bsky.social on "Degree"; @dennismhogan.bsky.social on "Endowment": & (one I read in draft) @andyhines.bsky.social, @kaibosworth.bsky.social et al on "Sustainability" 💥
everyone is talking about getting copies of University Keywords (or other JHU Press books) for all their friends, students, and comrades for the holidays, especially when it is 40% off with the code HHOL25.
November 24, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Just ordered! At $20.97 this works out to LESS THAN $1 AN ESSAY for, e.g. @asheeshksi.bsky.social on "Board of Trustees"; @cnewf.bsky.social on "Degree"; @dennismhogan.bsky.social on "Endowment": & (one I read in draft) @andyhines.bsky.social, @kaibosworth.bsky.social et al on "Sustainability" 💥
The itinerary of this new wave of fascist deportations (Louisiana -> Barbados -> Equatorial Guinea) is the transatlantic slave trade in reverse, FYI
A small Journey plane landed in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. This is the first flight since Equatorial Guinea agreed to accept third-country nationals and it’s unclear if such nationals are on board. The plane departed Alexandria, LA yesterday and stopped in Barbados.
November 24, 2025 at 1:58 PM
The itinerary of this new wave of fascist deportations (Louisiana -> Barbados -> Equatorial Guinea) is the transatlantic slave trade in reverse, FYI
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
“Idleness so called, which does not consist in doing nothing, but in doing a great deal not recognised in the dogmatic formularies of the ruling class, has as good a right to state its position as industry itself.”
—“An Apology for Idlers”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1877)
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69825
—“An Apology for Idlers”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1877)
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69825
November 24, 2025 at 11:25 AM
“Idleness so called, which does not consist in doing nothing, but in doing a great deal not recognised in the dogmatic formularies of the ruling class, has as good a right to state its position as industry itself.”
—“An Apology for Idlers”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1877)
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69825
—“An Apology for Idlers”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1877)
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69825
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
"The humanities really are a resource — a confidence for living in our times.” Dean Sara Guyer on the modern utility of humanities degrees
This interview originally appeared on the Division of Arts
bit.ly
November 23, 2025 at 3:38 PM
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
To the author’s credit, she’s gone back and changed the word. It is important to acknowledge when one gets it wrong and try to fix it. Respect.
November 21, 2025 at 10:21 PM
To the author’s credit, she’s gone back and changed the word. It is important to acknowledge when one gets it wrong and try to fix it. Respect.
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
It's so rare to see the old world dying and the new world struggling to be born in the same room together
Trump on Mamdani: "I think he's gonna surprise some conservative people, actually. And some very liberal people he won't surprise because they already like him."
November 21, 2025 at 9:01 PM
It's so rare to see the old world dying and the new world struggling to be born in the same room together
lol setting “reasoning_effort” to “none” to really see what this baby can do
November 21, 2025 at 9:09 PM
lol setting “reasoning_effort” to “none” to really see what this baby can do
the NYT referring to "scientific orthodoxy" instead of "science" or "proven facts" or "the truth" is what helps you see that this newspaper is now, & has been for some time, a critical part of the fascist apparatus in this country
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 7:03 PM
the NYT referring to "scientific orthodoxy" instead of "science" or "proven facts" or "the truth" is what helps you see that this newspaper is now, & has been for some time, a critical part of the fascist apparatus in this country
🌿🙏💙
I’m 2/3 of the way through the ecocriticism I’ve been most excited for this year. As with Ensor’s book, it’s hard to overstate the admiration I have for @nathankhensley.bsky.social’s *Action Without Hope*: a brilliant breath of darkly fresh air. On to @royscranton.bsky.social latest!
November 21, 2025 at 6:15 PM
🌿🙏💙
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
A fire broke out at a pavilion inside the COP30 global climate summit in Belém, Brazil, on Thursday. It is the latest in a series of mishaps for the annual conference this year. nyti.ms/43Iej2X
November 21, 2025 at 2:20 AM
A fire broke out at a pavilion inside the COP30 global climate summit in Belém, Brazil, on Thursday. It is the latest in a series of mishaps for the annual conference this year. nyti.ms/43Iej2X
You can sabotage AI with poetry, pass it on
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 21, 2025 at 3:24 AM
You can sabotage AI with poetry, pass it on
The winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction is ‘The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)’ by Rabih Alameddine. #NBAwards
November 20, 2025 at 3:17 AM
“He worked, came home, and played with his little sister. That was his life.”
Please help Bryan, a decent and hardworking person who was just kidnapped off the street in DC. He has been in this country since he was a child. He has a business and a family. He does not deserve such shameful cruelty. Please share.
www.gofundme.com/f/help-bryan...
www.gofundme.com/f/help-bryan...
Donate to Help Bryan Fight for His Freedom, organized by Kira Tewalt
Help Bryan Fight for His Freedom
My name is Kira, and I’m asking for your help on… Kira Tewalt needs your support for Help Bryan Fight for His Freedom
www.gofundme.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:03 PM
“He worked, came home, and played with his little sister. That was his life.”
By definition, AI algorithmic engines repackage an aggregated, mathematically averaged version of what has already been thought & said. This means they are best seen as ideology machines: mechanisms built to recirculate the common sense of a social formation back to itself as though it is knowledge
📸 New research just out revealing disturbing problems with AI image captioning. AI models can now analyse both texts and images, and are trained on vast collections of human-created content spanning centuries. Some claims these models could soon help human historians interpret and explain the past.
November 17, 2025 at 4:24 PM
By definition, AI algorithmic engines repackage an aggregated, mathematically averaged version of what has already been thought & said. This means they are best seen as ideology machines: mechanisms built to recirculate the common sense of a social formation back to itself as though it is knowledge
Reposted by Nathan K. Hensley
The Aftermath of Aftermaths! Thank you all for a wonderful conference experience, but especially our visitor on the last slide. See you in LA in 2026!
November 17, 2025 at 3:51 PM
The Aftermath of Aftermaths! Thank you all for a wonderful conference experience, but especially our visitor on the last slide. See you in LA in 2026!
NAVSA photo dump 1/3: thank you so much to everyone who shared their brilliance & generosity for this huge collective undertaking— it was so fun to be together with you all
November 17, 2025 at 2:50 PM
NAVSA photo dump 1/3: thank you so much to everyone who shared their brilliance & generosity for this huge collective undertaking— it was so fun to be together with you all
News you can use from the great Tanya Agathocleous, at “Organizing the Academic Workplace I,” on the last day of @navsa2025.bsky.social. Stay safe everybody, protect your students and your friends. Thanks so much for being here.
November 16, 2025 at 4:23 PM
News you can use from the great Tanya Agathocleous, at “Organizing the Academic Workplace I,” on the last day of @navsa2025.bsky.social. Stay safe everybody, protect your students and your friends. Thanks so much for being here.