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FrançoisFrancois@lookingup.francois-rincon.org
Oct 7, 2026, 10:50 PM
We are living through unprecedented trying times for research, times that increasingly look like a crepuscule, a moment of high existential danger for research communities and academic freedoms. Now is the time for academics to take a stand or go to hell after making a Faustian pact. This is my public plea to colleagues consuming genAI products, for whatever stated reason, to stick their head […]
https://lookingup.francois-rincon.org/an-open-letter-to-academic-colleagues-using-genai/
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Replies

jerjerrej@mastodon.social
Oct 8, 2026, 2:41 PM
@Francois
I stopped reading during the bathtub scene. Putting three analogies in a single sentence is wild! Good read for what it's worth, and I'm not in your intended audience anyway; just an innocent bystander who agrees with your major points. Thank you very much!
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Boudboud@framapiaf.org
Oct 8, 2026, 3:34 PM
@Francois
Brilliant essay! I fully agree.
Glad to see a reference to #DemocraticResilience . Doing serious academic studies of a dynamical system as complex as national systems of government is difficult, but some people are doing that [1]. There's no need to accept #DemocraticBacksliding as inevitable. Evidence exists on what tends to provide resilience.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_resilience
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Florence Maraninchiflomaraninchi@pouet.chapril.org
Oct 8, 2026, 3:30 PM
@Francois
Excellent ! Merci.
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Dennis Wittchendenniswittchen@hci.social
Oct 8, 2026, 6:59 PM
@Francois Not sure if FOMO is the acronym for “Fear Of Missing Out” or, in this case, “Fuck Off, More Opportunism”
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Martin Taibrmartin_t@mastodon.social
Oct 8, 2026, 10:50 PM
@denniswittchen @Francois
I talked to a researcher who started using LLMs heavily. I brought up that as someone who spend 10 years doing open source, I consider it stealing.
His brain didn't really want to process that because he kept looking for alternative explanations why I don't like LLMs, even asking if I am just jealous they're better than me (he has no concept of code quality).
In the end, he told me I should use them too and make as much money as possible while I am still at the top.
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Marco Moltenipizzaclick@hachyderm.io
Oct 9, 2026, 7:41 AM
@Francois
> Now is the time for academics to take a stand or go to hell after making a Faustian pact [...]
Thank you for saying this so eloquently. I am not in academia, I have a CS degree and do software development, both for a living and because I love it. I feel the same doom, maybe even worse, since it seems that the majority of my fellows have already done the pact.
Merci ancore.
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