It does seem like the punishment for his youthful display of bigotry is over the top. But I'm going to push back on this a little.
Without having read Bostrom's apology, I don't think it's unreasonable for people to wonder if he still holds racist beliefs. What he did say when he was 22 was pretty bad. Casual use of the n word, to me, suggests it was not just a one-off lapse of an otherwise unprejudiced mind. I haven't read his apology, but in general a sufficiently weak apology is evidence that one is just trying to make the right noises required to make the problem go away. Further, actions speak louder than words. Has he demonstrated through his actions, especially as someone in a position of influence, that he has reformed? I don't know. But if doubt remains, I can understand an institution not wanting its reputation to be tarnished especially in such a punitive culture. And of course part of the problem is that there are too many for whom no amount of penance or action is enough. I assume that's the spirit of Russell's comments here. I do wonder though if Bostrom has done the work on himself since. On Thu, Dec 5, 2024 at 6:54 PM Russell Standish <[email protected]> wrote: > > https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/19/oxford-future-of-humanity-institute-closes > > Probably a number of you people are already aware of this, but I just > learnt of this through a review of Bostrom's latest book "Deep > Utopia". > > I had heard of the FHI closure, because a close friend of mine who had > contracted with them, tried to visit the on his recent trip to the > UK. But I hadn't heard about Bostrom effectively being cancelled for a > stupid comment he made on a mailing list back in 1996 at the tender > age of 22, one that he has publicly apologised for and > repudiated. Jeez! It was a stupid comment then, but who hasn't made > stupid comments, particularly when young. > > We know now that you should never put anything in email that you don't > want to appear on the front page of a national newspaper - in 1996, > that wasn't so obvious though. > > Cheers > > -- > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Dr Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) > Principal, High Performance Coders [email protected] > http://www.hpcoders.com.au > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/Z1I9RcGenvABSnXx%40zen. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAMy3ZA889VkTMUMiOaWDmDYEOGu59fYguY0DNXgyK0bw3LC6ww%40mail.gmail.com.
