What new information will surface this year about the sudden closure of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute?
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34
Ṁ1761
Jan 1
77%
FHI was shut down due to bureaucratical inefficiencies and conflicts
70%
FHI was shut down due to university politics (someone(s) in the Philosophy department didn't like someone(s) at FHI)
57%
FHI was shut down over illegitimate concern over their work e.g. ideological disagreement based on misconceptions
34%
Leadership of the Phil dept believed that being associated with FHI/specific researchers at FHI hurts their relationships with funders/donors.
20%
Alleged misconduct (professional, sexual, interpersonal, ...) of prominent researcher(s) at the institute contributed to the decision to shut FHI down.
12%
FHI was shut down over legitimate concern by the Philosophy department over FHI's work
12%
The apology letter will be explicitly called out as part of the reason
11%
FHI was shut down because the Philosophy department didn't have the funding to continue running it at current costs

Context:

From FHI's announcement:

Over time FHI faced increasing administrative headwinds within the Faculty of Philosophy (the Institute’s organizational home).  Starting in 2020, the Faculty imposed a freeze on fundraising and hiring.  In late 2023, the Faculty of Philosophy decided that the contracts of the remaining FHI staff would not be renewed.  On 16 April 2024, the Institute was closed down.

Add any answers to this market that you think might explain further why FHI was shut down, and if evidence comes to light by end of year that proves it right, it will resolve YES. Anything already in FHI's announcement (https://www.futureofhumanityinstitute.org/) or FHI's final report (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/660e95991cf0293c2463bcc8/t/661a3fc3cecceb2b8ffce80d/1712996303164/FHI+Final+Report.pdf) will not count as new information.

Ask clarifying questions in comments as needed. In cases of ambiguity, I will use my best judgment, which may mean resolving N/A, though generally will act under the principle that answers will resolve NO absent sufficient evidence to the contrary.

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Would an ideological disagreement not based on misconceptions be classified as "legitimate" or "illegitimate" concern?

@placebo_username Probably depends on how far of a stretch is the ideological disagreement, but leaning toward legitimate in this case.

BTW, I have trouble accepting that a process spanning 4 years can be described as "sudden closure".

The apology letter will be explicitly called out as part of the reason

Is this the Nick Bostrom racist emails apology letter, or something else?

@HenriThunberg 👆 can you advise?

@TheAllMemeingEye Yes, correct 👌

will only 1 resolve yes?

@TheAllMemeingEye No, could resolve multiple if evidence surfaces that matches multiple answers and/or reasons

@Tetraspace I'm always unsure about under what circumstances tweet embeds work.

Robin Hanson:

I recall many years ago meeting with someone at Oxford to talk about quantum mechanics, but they mainly wanted to lobby me to lobby FHI to focus more on global warming, and less on all those other weird future issues. they saw as less important.

FHI was shut down due to university politics (someone(s) in the Philosophy department didn't like someone(s) at FHI)

What happened here lol?

@TheAllMemeingEye Someone travelled back in time in an attempt to save the future of humanity

FHI was shut down because the Philosophy department didn't have the funding to continue running it at current costs
bought Ṁ5 FHI was shut down be... NO

I suspect not this since they would've just decreased rather than completely cut the funding right?

bought Ṁ1 FHI was shut down ov... YES

@TheAllMemeingEye They blocked both fundraising and hiring since 2020, right? If the problem was a lack of funds, that seems incoherent with the history.

bought Ṁ30 FHI was shut down ov... NO

Depressing

bought Ṁ50 FHI was shut down ov... NO

Sad news

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