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Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

futureofhumanityinstitute.org

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Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#101

Post by IncreasePosts »

throwaway290 wrote: post #83
IncreasePosts wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if these people ever paused to consider they aren't as smart as they think they are, if they're just figuring out some basics of human communication in their mid 20s that my 8 year old has known for years.

The irony is that you are looking at an example where a guy literally paused to consider how he was not so smart about communication. He also shared it with others who can also lack this skill

He said "I think it is laudable if you accustom people to the offensiveness of the truth, but be prepared that you may suffer some personal damage".

Doesn't sound like someone doing introspection, it sounds more like he is lamenting that the world isn't as "logical" as he is.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#102

Post by arduanika »

dylan604 wrote: post #76
johngossman wrote: post #22

Bear with a digression. CS Lewis was a professor at Oxford. His novel “That Hideous Strength” is about an organization that wants to use science to save humanity. “It’s a little fantastic to base one’s actions on a supposed concern for what’s going to happen millions of years hence; and you must remember that the other side would claim to be preserving humanity, too.” — That Hideous Strength: (Space Trilogy, Book Thr…

How is that any different than deity of religion will save humanity as any more/less believable?

At least Lewis admits it. For me, that goes a long way.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#103

Post by arduanika »

polygamous_bat wrote: post #37
exo-pla-net wrote: post #18

Seems the incompetent and curiously hostile Philosophy Faculty at Oxford killed FHI. > While FHI had achieved significant academic and policy impact, the final years were affected by a gradual suffocation by Faculty bureaucracy. The flexible, fast-moving approach of the institute did not function well with the rigid rules and slow decision-making of the surrounding organization. (One of our administrators developed a…

Surely it was Oxford, the institute older than most nations, being incompetent, and nothing to do with the easy money tap called Sam Bankman Fraud being thrown in jail. Oxford just seems like a easy scapegoat as they can’t just say “our biggest donor is in jail for the foreseeable future and we have no money left because we used it to buy a mansion [0]” [0] https://twitter.com/paulmainwood/status/1600433194691502081

Everybody who disagrees with me is incompetent.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#104

Post by constantcrying »

esafak wrote: post #35
constantcrying wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are confusing EA and e/acc. EA was about billionaires defrauding the population who entrusted them with their money to give away to whatever cause was deemed best by the current "scientific" consensus in EA. Causes can include things like the suffering of fish or AI ending the known universe. e/acc is about doing capitalism so hard so that AI will solve every problem.

That's not true. sbf was about that, but EA is not. Are there other cases of EA fraud?

>Are there other cases of EA fraud?

You mean besides the legions of pseudo-philosopher techbros pontificating about how they can save the world and organize sex parties while doing so?

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#105

Post by kikokikokiko »

jessriedel wrote: post #70
neilv wrote: post #43

The HN headline, "Future of Humanity Institute shuts down", sounds cynically funny, in context of current problems/challenges. The grandiose name Oxford chose now sounds like they've determined the situation is hopeless.

"Oxford" did not choose the name

By your definition no name ever was "chosen" by any corporation in history. Organizations are made of people, and when a new org inside the main org is named, it obviously was named by someone (or a committee). In the end, the "organization" choose the name, potato po-ta-to.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#106

Post by arduanika »

levocardia wrote: post #49
polygamous_bat wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely it was Oxford, the institute older than most nations, being incompetent, and nothing to do with the easy money tap called Sam Bankman Fraud being thrown in jail. Oxford just seems like a easy scapegoat as they can’t just say “our biggest donor is in jail for the foreseeable future and we have no money left because we used it to buy a mansion [0]” [0] https://twitter.com/paulmainwood/status/1600433194691502081

Center for Effective Altruism is different from FHI

Sure, and Beria is different from Marx.

Nobody in this entire movement wants to take responsibility for what anybody else does, and it's honestly exhausting. They have this dense belief that once a thinker releases his ideas into the water, he bears no responsibility for the crimes and excesses they inspire.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#107

Post by eks391 »

ryan_j_naughton wrote: post #95
stronglikedan wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing new under the sun --Abraham Lincoln

I think it is actually from the bible: What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 1:9

"A house divided aginst itself cannot stand," part of a speech by Abe and thus credited to him, is also from the Bible: Mark 3:25. I'va a hunch he was religious.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#108

Post by colechristensen »

laurex wrote: post #99
colechristensen wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in context of current problems/challenges People have been saying nonsense like this for as long as we have recorded history of people saying anything.

We've had recorded history of people saying things for less time than we've had a formal scientific method. Surely the accumulation of knowledge through our recording of people saying things carries some weight? It truly has not been that long in which great acceleration of climate conditions have become existential- though I suppose in the timelines of life on earth, the era of recorded human thoughts is itself minu…

>We've had recorded history of people saying things for less time than we've had a formal scientific method.

False, we have vast amounts of records of everyday correspondence, written speeches, graffiti, works of fiction, etc. from Romans 2000 years ago, long before scientific method (which I guess is usually attributed to Newton?, anyway approximately contemporary)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_Man

Hesiod 2700 years ago wrote about the degradation of society from the Golden Age where people lived among the Gods with a garden of eden vibe down through silver, bronze to "present" iron where life was toil and misery and people were awful and immoral. Ovid said the same 2000 years ago.

"Everything is going to shit, things aren't as good as they used to be and they're getting worse now more than ever" is literally a meme as old as human history.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#109

Post by davidivadavid »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #86
IncreasePosts wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if these people ever paused to consider they aren't as smart as they think they are, if they're just figuring out some basics of human communication in their mid 20s that my 8 year old has known for years.

Has your 8 yr old really known this for years? He may behave in a conformist way, instinctively, without being able to describe it or understand the phenomenon... both of which are, in my opinion, required to know it. And who's figuring out whose communication? He basically has to draw a picture in crayon of what he means, just so all the rest of you don't misconstrue his meaning. Your "human communication" is much t…

If he has to draw a picture in crayon, maybe he must think a little harder with that big head of his about how to say it properly in the first place so it doesn't require a second explanation?

In this case, it's really hard to understand why someone not completely idiotic when it comes to communication would have used the phrase "I like that sentence" after saying "Blacks are more stupid than whites."

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#110

Post by sgift »

polygamous_bat wrote: post #37
exo-pla-net wrote: post #18

Seems the incompetent and curiously hostile Philosophy Faculty at Oxford killed FHI. > While FHI had achieved significant academic and policy impact, the final years were affected by a gradual suffocation by Faculty bureaucracy. The flexible, fast-moving approach of the institute did not function well with the rigid rules and slow decision-making of the surrounding organization. (One of our administrators developed a…

Surely it was Oxford, the institute older than most nations, being incompetent, and nothing to do with the easy money tap called Sam Bankman Fraud being thrown in jail. Oxford just seems like a easy scapegoat as they can’t just say “our biggest donor is in jail for the foreseeable future and we have no money left because we used it to buy a mansion [0]” [0] https://twitter.com/paulmainwood/status/1600433194691502081

You obviously missed this part: > This is the actual administrative effort it took for FHI to have a small grant disbursed into its account within the Philosophy Faculty so that we could start using it - after both the funder and the University had already approved the grant.

They make quite a clear difference between Oxford (i.e. the University) and the faculty.

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