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Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

futureofhumanityinstitute.org

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Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#121

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

EarthAmbassador wrote: post #57
sinuhe69 wrote: post #8

What an irony! The Bostrom Institute has to close in the midst of the spectacular rise of AI, and the all-important questions of AI risks and human value alignment are more hotly debated than ever. I hope that Bostrom and his colleagues will continue and deepen their research, because humanity needs such insights now more than ever.

How does one research and generate insights for what does not exist yet? Is there a framework? At SXSW this year, there were a couple of talks about forecasting, as a tool for futurism, but where ethics are concerned, I’ve not seen a good template. Maybe all if this is obvious, yet I’m curious so I’m asking.

> How does one research and generate insights for what does not exist yet?

It's Zeno's paradox of research: we cannot think about what does not already exist, therefore nothing new can ever be brought into existence!

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#122

Post by BlueTemplar »

frozenseven wrote: post #89
helboi4 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats.... still racist? Why does he think black people have a lower IQ? Nigerian immigrants to the US are some of the most successful immigrants. Like... black people just do not have lower IQs and to say so is considered very dangerous rhetoric for a reason. The reason we even have pervasive belief that black people are stupider is because it was convenient rhetoric for the colonial powers pillaging Africa and treat…

>Why does he think black people have a lower IQ? Because of every study that's ever been done on this topic? Pointing this out isn't racist. >Nigerian immigrants to the US are some of the most successful immigrants. Typically those immigrants come from among the smartest few %.

This whole discussion is pointless - categorizing people by skin colour is ridiculous for almost all purposes, and also, considering history, racist.

Also, didn't "black" and "n-word" switch meanings as slur/non-slur less than a century ago (and might switch them again in less than a century) ?

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#125

Post by pfdietz »

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #121
EarthAmbassador wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does one research and generate insights for what does not exist yet? Is there a framework? At SXSW this year, there were a couple of talks about forecasting, as a tool for futurism, but where ethics are concerned, I’ve not seen a good template. Maybe all if this is obvious, yet I’m curious so I’m asking.

> How does one research and generate insights for what does not exist yet? It's Zeno's paradox of research: we cannot think about what does not already exist, therefore nothing new can ever be brought into existence!

I call this "nothing can ever happen for the first time". One often hears it in passive-aggressive arguments against renewable energy.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#126

Post by anigbrowl »

exo-pla-net wrote: post #87
daveguy wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd also wager that the downvotes here are because this flame-bait kind of comments are not appropriate for HN, or if they are appropriate then some might not think it's contributing to the discussion anyways. It's odd to me that calling racism racism when a parent called it not racism is either non-contributing or inflamatory. Seems to me it is warranted.

An assertion without rationale is noise or worse. "That's racist; cancel them!" falls in the latter category. It's the mindless baying of the rabble. You don't engage with the rabble, as there's no fixing stupid. You just hope they shut up, so that you and the other adults can think, and you hope that the rabble burns down someone else's house. Analogously, there's not much to be gained from engaging with someone sho…

An assertion without rationale is noise or worse.

This could equally be applied to statements like 'blacks are more stupid than whites'. Rather than anyone calling for Bostrom to be cancelled, most of the people posting here just wonder how a clever and academically successful person like Bostrom could have been oblivious to the factual and historical problems of such a broad generalization. One could equally wonder why he picked a racial trope as his controversial example, as opposed to challenging the conventional wisdom on nuclear weapons, or economics, or the superiority of rugby to association football, or the correct pronunciation of 'gif'.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#127

Post by mise_en_place »

exo-pla-net wrote: post #23
Maro wrote: post #11

This 2023 incident around founder Nick Bostrom may have something to do with it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Bostrom#1996_email_contro... From the wikipedia article: > In January 2023, Bostrom issued an apology for a 1996 email where he had stated that he thought "Blacks are more stupid than whites", and where he also used the word "niggers" in a description of how he thought this statement might be perceived…

This is a smear taken out of context. What Bostrom actually had to say is both accurate and mild: > “I have always liked the uncompromisingly objective way of thinking and speaking: the more counterintuitive and repugnant a formulation, the more it appeals to me given that it is logically correct,” the quoted excerpt begins. “Take for example the following sentence: Blacks are more stupid than whites. I like that sen…

Most people are not ready to have an honest discussion about the correlation between race and IQ. It sadly gets muddied by various political ministrations. But it seems like a genuine effect that should be studied more. If we truly want equality of opportunity, we must understand what is causing certain races to be on the left side of the normal distribution. Is it nutrition? Social status? Lack of parenting? A combination of these?

Bostrom's only crime there was hoping for an honest, curious, and intellectual discussion.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#128

Post by christkv »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #61
EarthAmbassador wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does one research and generate insights for what does not exist yet? Is there a framework? At SXSW this year, there were a couple of talks about forecasting, as a tool for futurism, but where ethics are concerned, I’ve not seen a good template. Maybe all if this is obvious, yet I’m curious so I’m asking.

I'm not expert and struggled to read Bostrom's Super Intelligence, but my interpretation was it started with a lot of broad, hand-wavy factors & historical interpetations, layered on some pretty tenious projections as inevitable and wanked off with deep thought experiments. I get this sort of open-ended exploration has value, but I'm not sold on it's "prioritized value" when compared with other areas and directions.

It was literally under the department of intellectual wankery. Them shutting it down is the pot calling the kettle….

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#129

Post by frozenseven »

BlueTemplar wrote: post #122
frozenseven wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why does he think black people have a lower IQ? Because of every study that's ever been done on this topic? Pointing this out isn't racist. >Nigerian immigrants to the US are some of the most successful immigrants. Typically those immigrants come from among the smartest few %.

This whole discussion is pointless - categorizing people by skin colour is ridiculous for almost all purposes, and also, considering history, racist. Also, didn't "black" and "n-word" switch meanings as slur/non-slur less than a century ago (and might switch them again in less than a century) ?

>categorizing people by skin colour is ridiculous for almost all purposes

Sure. But race is most often about genetic (or ethno-linguistic) heritage, not skin color. A person from Japan might have the same skin color as someone from Greece.

Re: Future of Humanity Institute shuts down

#130

Post by malfist »

itronitron wrote: post #58
exo-pla-net wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a smear taken out of context. What Bostrom actually had to say is both accurate and mild: > “I have always liked the uncompromisingly objective way of thinking and speaking: the more counterintuitive and repugnant a formulation, the more it appeals to me given that it is logically correct,” the quoted excerpt begins. “Take for example the following sentence: Blacks are more stupid than whites. I like that sen…

The additional context you provide suggests that the smear was taken out of context in order to hide the fact that the smear was in fact covering a skid mark over a shit stain.

Yeah, I don't get how that context makes anything better. All it says to me is Bostrom is trying to claim he's not racist because he knows his racist view will get him called a racist and therefor he's not racist.

The argument doesn't make sense. You don't get to claim your view that black people are inferior to "mankind" isn't racist just because someone calls you a racist

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