Nick Bostrom (1973-)

See: Oxford Future of Humanity Institute (2005-2024), Global Catastrophic Event.

References

https://theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/28/nick-bostrom-controversial-future-of-humanity-institute-closure-longtermism-affective-altruism
- NOTES
  - Founded in 2005 by Nick Bostrom, the FHI was dedicated to studying existential risks, particularly those associated with advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, aiming to anticipate and mitigate potential threats to humanity's future. ... After facing internal administrative challenges and external controversies, including criticisms of fostering a "cult-like" ideology and connections to problematic figures, the FHI closed in April 2024, ending its operations amid significant academic and public debate.
  - Philosophical Contributions: Bostrom is known for his work on existential risks, his hypothesis about humanity living in a computer simulation, and his book "Superintelligence", which discusses the dangers posed by AI—a topic that has made substantial impact in both philosophical and tech communities.
  - Public and Academic Controversies: He has faced criticism for past controversial statements and his defensive posture in public appearances, complicating his academic reputation and contributing to the divisive reception of his work and the associated ideologies.

Ross Andersen. (2013). “Omens - When we peer into the fog of the deep future what do we see – human extinction or a future among the stars?." 2013-02-25
- QUOTE: … when he was younger, he was more interested in the traditional philosophical questions. He wanted to develop a basic understanding of the world and its fundamentals. He wanted to know the nature of being, the intricacies of logic, and the secrets of the good life.
  ‘But then there was this transition, where it gradually dawned on me not all philosophical questions are equally urgent,’ he said. ‘Some of them have been with us for thousands of years. It’s unlikely that we are going to make serious progress on them in the next ten. That realisation refocused me on research that can make a difference right now. It helped me to understand that philosophy has a time limit.

http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/our_staff/research/nick_bostrom
- Nick Bostrom is Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University and founding Director of the Future of Humanity Institute and of the Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology within the Oxford Martin School. He is the author of some 200 publications, including Anthropic Bias (Routledge, 2002), Global Catastrophic Risks (ed., OUP, 2008), and Human Enhancement (ed., OUP, 2009), and a forthcoming book on Superintelligence. He previously taught at Yale, and he was a Postdoctoral Fellow of the British Academy. Bostrom has a background in physics, computational neuroscience, and mathematical logic as well as philosophy.
  He is best known for his work in five areas: (i) the concept of existential risk; (ii) the simulation argument; (iii) anthropics (developing the first mathematically explicit theory of observation selection effects); (iv) transhumanism, including related issues in bioethics and on consequences of future technologies; and (v) foundations and practical implications of consequentialism. He is currently working on a book on the possibility of an intelligence explosion and on the existential risks and strategic issues related to the prospect of machine superintelligence.

(Sandberg & Bostrom, 2008) ⇒ Anders Sandberg, and Nick Bostrom. (2008). “Whole Brain Emulation." Technical Report #2008-3, Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University.

(Bostrom, 1998) ⇒ Nick Bostrom. (1998). “[How Long Before Superintelligence].” In: International Journal of Future Studies.