Timnit Gebru's reaction on [ https://www.linkedin.com/posts/timnit-gebru-7b3b407_oxford-shuts-down-institute-run-by-elon-musk-backed-activity-7187942898712129536-nfLa?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop | Linkedin ] to [ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/28/nick-bostrom-controversial-future-of-humanity-institute-closure-longtermism-affective-altruism | The Guardian's article ] below. The DAIR institute she create has also published a paper on " [ https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/13636 | The TESCREAL ] " bundle (see link) - which Wikipedia describes as " Gebru and [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_P._Torres | Émile P. Torres ] have used the acronym TESCREAL to criticize what they see as a group of overlapping futurist philosophies: [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism | transhumanism ] , [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extropianism | extropianism ] , [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singularitarianism | singularitarianism ] , [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cosmism | cosmism ] , [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalism | rationalism ] , [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_Altruism | effective altruism ] , and [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longtermism | longtermism ] . Gebru considers these to be a right-leaning influence in [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Tech | Big Tech ] and compares proponents to "the [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics | eugenicists ] of the 20th century" in their production of harmful projects they portray as "benefiting humanity ""
Here's Gebru's response : " So finally, Nick Bostrom's institute has been closed down at Oxford, and he resigned from the university following that. When I got a request to speak from something something Oxford this was how I had responded: "Thank you for the invitation. Given the number of eugenicists housed at Oxford with zero consequences, especially those who created the field of "existential studies" talking about "existential risk" from "AI" like Nick Bostrom, various people in his institute, the effective altruists and the overall TESCREAL bundle who have been drenched in money to advocate for the impending AGI apocalypse and utopia, two sides of the same coin, I don't plan to make any types of appearance at Oxford. I certainly will give no credence to people who talk about "Blacks" being "more stupid than whites," "dysgenic pressures" (the opposite of eugenic pressures) as existential risk to humanity, with stupid people (like "the Blacks") reproducing and creating a species that is not human. As many people have written, the most racist ideas are propagated and laundered through academia. This has historically been the case at Oxford and we are currently seeing it in action. Oxford has been the absolute worst in this manner. So following Keira Haven's recommendations, what I plan to do is "make them laughingstocks. Make them irrelevant. Demolish any lingering scientific credibility, and make it painful for their institutions — academic and otherwise — to continue to associate them publicly." I don't have the billions they get from their TESCREAL billionaires so I will not use my limited time and resources to debate anyone in this camp. " [ https://www.telecom-paris.fr/ ] Thomas LE BONNIEC Doctorant SES- I3 [ https://diplab.eu/ | DiPLab ] Bureau 3A343 19 place Marguerite Perey CS 20031 91123 Palaiseau Cedex Une école de [ https://www.imt.fr/ | l'IMT ]
