Thread by @timnitGebru

"Long-termism is not only influenced by far-right eugenics but, in turn, is influencing the billionaires involved in the biggest technology companies in the world including Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft – and the Biden administration."

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1598776439456862212

"Another long-termist,...Nick Beckstead, claims that saving the lives of more “economically productive” rich people is a greater priority than saving unproductive poor people, because this would...increase chances of the desired future of massive space colonisation."

"This will, Bostrom and Shulman argue...“increase world human capital, &,...possibly create individuals with unprecedented levels of cognitive capacity.” They therefore recommend that policy-makers explore “appropriate regulatory frameworks”, & even “a common set of global rules”

"Bostrom’s FHI colleague Nick Beckstead – who also commented on his 2013 eugenics paper – was CEO of the FTX Foundation..., until resigning after the latter’s collapse. He is also programme officer at Open Philanthropy, a...research foundation...on the basis of effective altruism

...set-up by billionaire Dustin Moskovitz who co-founded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg. Carl Shulman, a frequent Bostrom co-author, administers a fund held by the Centre for Effective Altruism which is also funded by Open Philanthropy."

"Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence in the Biden administration, previously consulted for Open Philanthropy. Jason Matheny, Joe Biden’s deputy assistant for technology and national security, is a former FHI research assistant who worked under Bostrom."

"In the UK, effective altruism has influenced the Conservative Party through Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove. Cummings’s ideas about genes, IQ and eugenics have also been heavily influenced by Stephen Hsu, who has shaped Nick Bostrom’s thinking about embryo selection...

It also appears to be influencing the Labour Party through a new pressure group called ‘Labour for the Long Term’."

"In 2015, Google HQ hosted an EA Global conference at its Mountain View campus. Both Elon Musk and Nick Bostrom addressed the conference. Musk is close friends with Google’s co-founder Larry Page."

"Lonsdale’s fellow Palantir co-founder, Peter Thiel, has spoken at EA Summit conferences in 2013 and 2014. He has also funded the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, which received support from Open Philanthropy under Nick Beckstead’s oversight."

^^^ #AISafety.

"While there are disagreements among these billionaires, technology entrepreneurs & academics, they appear to share long-termism’s core principles and goals – and appear to be actively attempting to execute its vision on the world stage, with considerable success.

"US investigative journalist Dave Troy has argued in Byline Times that Musk’s purchase of Twitter must be seen in this context."

💯