Christopher Watkin

To accompany the launch of my new book... an article on the Fifteen Eighty Four blog:
"The State of Nature: Historical Fable, Haunting Future" cambridgeblog.org/2026/02/the-...
Book launch details: bsky.app/profile/drch...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: SCRN seminar: Laure Gillot-Assayag, Rethinking the Social Contract: A Ricœurian Perspective. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about ... This presentation examines the contribution of Paul Ricœur’s political philosophy to the social contract tradition. It shall explain how Ricœur’s notion of the “political paradox” highlights the funda...

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12 May: Laure Gillot-Assayag — Rethinking the Social Contract: A Ricœurian Perspective. Institutions, justice, and the “political paradox.” Register: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: SCRN seminar: Simon Angus, Inclusive Economics - How could AI technologies shape a new inclusive economy?. After registering, you will receive a confirmatio... Sometime in 2017, Google researchers developed and demonstrated the 'transformer' architecture, a fundamentally new way to overcome the human--computer representation problem. Fast forward to 2026 and...

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27 Apr: Simon Angus (Monash): Inclusive Economics. AI as institutional infrastructure shaping participation in economic life. Register: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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Robert Sparrow (Monash): Slaves to the Algorithms? Algocracy & Republican Liberty. Does AI decision-making in government threaten political liberty? Date/time tbc. Details: www.monash.edu/arts/languag...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: SCRN seminar: Geoff Keeling, Emerging Questions in AI Welfare. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. This talk investigates whether artificial intelligence (AI) systems could ever be welfare subjects, understood as entities for which things can go better or worse. Some people argue that AIs could pla...

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24 Mar: Geoff Keeling (Google Research): Emerging Questions in AI Welfare. Could AI ever be a welfare subject? What would we owe digital minds? Register: monash.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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The increasing prominence of AI and LLMs in society raises profound and pressing questions for the social contract and ideas of the common good.

The SCRN has an upcoming Zoom seminar series exploring these questions.

Details + free registration links: www.monash.edu/arts/languag...

What a frustration that they ended up in the spam folder! I hope you enjoy the next meeting.

6/6
If you’re curious about how our origin stories shape our sense of who we are and where we’re going, please come along (in person or online).
#PoliticalTheory #IntellectualHistory

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SYDNEY (with online option) — Thu 9 April, 1–4pm
University of Notre Dame Australia + Microsoft Teams
Author-meets-critics with Dr Sandra Field, Prof Peter Harrison & @jessicawhyte.bsky.social .
Register: events.nd.edu.au/state-of-nat...

Melbourne French Studies Seminar Series (March) 🗓️When: Friday 20 March, 3–4pm 📍Where: 407 Babel Building, The University of Melbourne – Parkville Campus “Nature as Norm: Rousseau, Foucault, and the State of Nature as a Regime of Truth” The vari…

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MELBOURNE — Fri 20 March, 3–4pm
University of Melbourne (Parkville), 407 Babel Building
Talk: Rousseau + Foucault on the state of nature as a “regime of truth”.
Details: australiansocietyforfrenchstudies.com/2026/02/16/m...

The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity Cambridge Core - History of Ideas and Intellectual History - The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity

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If you’d like to explore how early modern stories still echo in contemporary debates, I’d love to invite you to one of two events connected to my new book "The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity": www.cambridge.org/core/books/s...

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Unpacking those stories gives us a powerful lens for understanding the complex forces shaping our contemporary political and cultural landscapes.

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Two upcoming book launch events...
The stories we tell about human origins quietly shape our assumptions and intuitions about fundamental values like freedom and equality, and about how we relate to each other and to the natural world.

It was so lovely to talk to you too, Ben! And all the very best for the exhibition about the book at Lancaster University Library.

Oh no! I'm sorry. Petra has been quite responsive to mine. Have you still not heard back?

Spaced Repetition & AI: A Data-Driven Approach to Vocabulary Acquisition YouTube video by Christopher Watkin

I built this system to help my university students master their vocabulary lists more effectively. It's free to anyone. It combines a spaced repetition algorithm with AI-assisted formative translation feedback.
Supports many languages.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnh...

#AcademicSky #OpenAccess

Calling Michel Serres scholars:
Just heard about a new reading group "a small, friendly bunch", sharing an interest in theology and philosophy, who are getting together on Zoom (12th of Feb at 3 pm CET) to discuss The Natural Contract.
email Petra at ctec@ehs.se to get a Zoom link

VIDEO. Beyond the “View from Nowhere”: Gospel, Culture, and the Logic of Incarnation I recently had the privilege of visiting Singapore Bible College to give a series of talks about the cultural contextualisation of the gospel. I want to express my deep gratitude for the incredibly…

Had a wonderful time recently with the faculty and students at Singapore Bible College!
Just posted the videos of 3 talks:
1️⃣Diagnosing Westernisation through Luke 15
2️⃣Subversive Fulfilment: Bridging the Divide
3️⃣Incarnation: The View from Somewhere
www.thinkingthroughthebible.com/video-beyond...

If you happen to be in Singapore on January 12,
or want to hop online,
I'll be giving an address entitled
"Beyond Western Defaults: Diagonalizing Scripture and Culture"
Singapore Bible College.
2-4pm.
English with Chinese Translation
Register: www.sbc.edu.sg/beyond-weste...

Christopher Watkin and AI | Stob Lecture 2025 YouTube video by Calvin Theological Seminary

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

Simone de Beauvoir and the “Adventurer”—Navigating the Return to the Common Good, with Mary Townsend Spotify video

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...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: SCRN seminar: Mary Townsend, Simone de Beauvoir and the “Adventurer”—Navigating the Return to the Common Good. After registering, you will receive a confirm... If return to a more robust social contract has become necessary, what do we do with the individuals who willfully step outside of it? In her Ethics of Ambiguity, Simone de Beauvoir describes five para...

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

Stob Lecture Series at Calvin Theological Seminary with Christopher Watkin: Tue, Nov 18 2025, 6 - 7:30pm Dr. Christopher Watkin is this year's presenter at the Stob Lecture Series at Calvin Theological Seminary. His talk "The Human Remains: Fragility and Fulfilment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" ...

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-...

Sophia Rosenfeld, Thinking About the Age of Choice YouTube video by Social Contract Research Network

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...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: SCRN seminar: Sophia Rosenfeld, Thinking about the Age of Choice. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. Contracts always have a complex relationship to choice. On the one hand, partners to a legitimate contract have to agree to its terms voluntarily. On the other, the contract binds the parties once i...

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...