Four Questions for...
Karina Frick
Linguist and PI of the URPP project "Digital (religious) Language Practices in the Context of Conspiracy Theories"
1. ChatGPT has an answer for everything – what do you ask it?
I still rarely ask ChatGPT anything — not out of skepticism, but simply because I haven’t (yet) developed the habit. Most of the time, I use it to generate images or do some calculations, but of course, I’ve also played around with it — for example, by asking questions in dialect. Maybe I’ll soon ask ChatGPT how our societal understanding of communication is changing through the use of generative AI.
2. The (research) question you torment everyone with?
It’s less of a question and more of a conviction: that language is basically the most important thing there is. Without language, there is no religion! I find it fascinating to ask why we communicate exactly the way we do at a given moment — especially in digital contexts, where we have different tools at our disposal than in face-to-face conversations.
3. If you were an app, you’d be… And why?
I’d be an app blocker: an app that helps me avoid spending too much time on social media or reading depressing news when I should be working. That’s not meant to sound culture-pessimistic — I like using my smartphone for many different things — but sometimes it’s good to just put it aside. In 2018, my husband and I went on a 3-month trip and left our smartphones at home. It was a fantastic experience — and we read so many books!
4. So tell us, how do you feel about (digital) religion?
When it comes to the “Gretchen question,” I’m fully with Faust:
Leave that, my child! Thou knowest my love is tender;
For love, my blood and life would I surrender,
And as for Faith and Church, I grant to each his own.
(Goethe, Faust I)