If Bostrom did step down as FHI director, who is likely to replace him? How confident are you that a new director will succeed in resolving conflicts with the broader philosophy department?
I have very little direct experience with FHI (just a very brief internship) but from the outside it looks like FHI has produced some really amazing research while Bostrom has directed it.
Perhaps a good way to appraise whether FHI has been performing above/below par during Bostrom’s directorship is to compare its output to a similar organisation such as Global Priorities Institute. How would you compare the value of work done by FHI versus GPI? I don’t know enough to be confident in this, but to me it seems like FHI has generated far more value (not that Bostrom is the only person to thank for this, but it seems like an important piece of evidence).
In any case—the views and oppinions of random users of this forum like me who aren’t directly involved with FHI don’t mean much, and I don’t really see the benefits of raising this question in public on the EA forum.
Mervin makes a great point that it is hard to compare GPI to FHI in general. But I also think comparing past FHI and past GPI is not the right way of thinking about it—instead we want to compare current/expected future FHI to current/expected future GPI. And the fact of the matter is quite clear that current/expected future GPI still can actually hire people, engage in productive research work, and maintain a relationship with the university whereas current/expected future FHI I think can best be described as “basically dead”.
From where I sit -It’s really hard to guess at all the details and relevant context of what’s going on (which is why I feel a bit stupid commenting on it… but I guess I can’t resist lol).
Is FHI the only org being subject to a hiring freeze? Or is the university/philosophy department cutting costs in many places? Are conflicts with the philosophy department basically FHI’s fault? Or is the bureaucracy dysfunctional/unfriendly to FHI in ways which made it impossible to keep them happy without making other costly tradeoffs? If Nick steps down as director, is there somebody else waiting in the wings who is likely to do a better job and successfully resolve the issue?
The only thing I know for sure looking in from the outside is that FHI has been doing really really great work 🤷
Are conflicts with the philosophy department basically FHI’s fault?
I think this is a relevant question, but I don’t think it’s the whole question (not that you were claiming it was). As an outsider who has heard some stories and has some guesses, I would conjecture that the University is (at least sometimes) unreasonable and bureaucratic, but nevertheless, if you want to be a director of a university-affiliated research group, “managing the relationship with the university, even when they are being unreasonable” is absolutely a core competency of the job, and it’s not one that Nick has had much luck with.
My understanding is that this is indeed unique to FHI, unfortunately. This is maybe why FHI and GPI make for a compelling comparison—both are EA-affiliated, both are in the University of Oxford. While working with a University is never easy, GPI seems totally fine and indeed does continue to hire, run events, etc. FHI does not.
I don’t know about the alternatives to Bostrom or how likely they would be to change the situation. Nathan makes a good point that perhaps prediction markets could play a role here. I generally think that, given I run an EA research org that could be construed as competing with FHI for funding/talent/influence/etc. I shouldn’t really engage in explicitly calling for Bostrom to step down or help analyze the alternatives. But hopefully I can more generally help people think through the situation more clearly as a whole. I mainly wrote what I wrote because the comment made me angry enough that I felt like I had to.
Relevant context is that FHI had a hiring freeze and was dying before the apology. And yes, it’s only FHI. There was some kind of cutting corners to avoid bureaucracy and the department got mad. It’s possible that with another leader FHI would be able to be rehabilitated in the department. Nobody can say for sure, but their best bet would be to go with someone willing to play by the book, and it would be odd for the department to have a grudge against new leadership.
FHI and GPI have different aims. I think the better comparison would be FHI today vs. what FHI could be. Or FHI today vs. FHI before things went to pot.
All the people I know who have recently worked at/work at FHI want him to step down, they just are uncomfortable saying so directly. I agree that this is not a good place to raise the issue, but I’m not sure where is, given that. I hope this thread emboldens others to have a frank conversation, and it’s possibly helpful to have information out there. I would really like FHI to survive, and it sounds like it could if he stepped down.
I worked at FHI as a research scholar from 2018-2020. At that time I didn’t hear anyone saying that Bostrom should step down (and I definitely didn’t think he should).
To be clear, it has been obvious to everyone that FHI has had severe operations/logistical issues. However, it’s much less clear if or how FHI would function without Nick Bostrom.
I’m pretty nervous about rumors in situations like this.
If I were in charge of making any decision here, I’d send out surveys and have a bunch of conversations.
If Bostrom did step down as FHI director, who is likely to replace him? How confident are you that a new director will succeed in resolving conflicts with the broader philosophy department?
I have very little direct experience with FHI (just a very brief internship) but from the outside it looks like FHI has produced some really amazing research while Bostrom has directed it.
Perhaps a good way to appraise whether FHI has been performing above/below par during Bostrom’s directorship is to compare its output to a similar organisation such as Global Priorities Institute. How would you compare the value of work done by FHI versus GPI? I don’t know enough to be confident in this, but to me it seems like FHI has generated far more value (not that Bostrom is the only person to thank for this, but it seems like an important piece of evidence).
In any case—the views and oppinions of random users of this forum like me who aren’t directly involved with FHI don’t mean much, and I don’t really see the benefits of raising this question in public on the EA forum.
Mervin makes a great point that it is hard to compare GPI to FHI in general. But I also think comparing past FHI and past GPI is not the right way of thinking about it—instead we want to compare current/expected future FHI to current/expected future GPI. And the fact of the matter is quite clear that current/expected future GPI still can actually hire people, engage in productive research work, and maintain a relationship with the university whereas current/expected future FHI I think can best be described as “basically dead”.
From where I sit -It’s really hard to guess at all the details and relevant context of what’s going on (which is why I feel a bit stupid commenting on it… but I guess I can’t resist lol).
Is FHI the only org being subject to a hiring freeze? Or is the university/philosophy department cutting costs in many places? Are conflicts with the philosophy department basically FHI’s fault? Or is the bureaucracy dysfunctional/unfriendly to FHI in ways which made it impossible to keep them happy without making other costly tradeoffs? If Nick steps down as director, is there somebody else waiting in the wings who is likely to do a better job and successfully resolve the issue?
The only thing I know for sure looking in from the outside is that FHI has been doing really really great work 🤷
I think this is a relevant question, but I don’t think it’s the whole question (not that you were claiming it was). As an outsider who has heard some stories and has some guesses, I would conjecture that the University is (at least sometimes) unreasonable and bureaucratic, but nevertheless, if you want to be a director of a university-affiliated research group, “managing the relationship with the university, even when they are being unreasonable” is absolutely a core competency of the job, and it’s not one that Nick has had much luck with.
My understanding is that this is indeed unique to FHI, unfortunately. This is maybe why FHI and GPI make for a compelling comparison—both are EA-affiliated, both are in the University of Oxford. While working with a University is never easy, GPI seems totally fine and indeed does continue to hire, run events, etc. FHI does not.
I don’t know about the alternatives to Bostrom or how likely they would be to change the situation. Nathan makes a good point that perhaps prediction markets could play a role here. I generally think that, given I run an EA research org that could be construed as competing with FHI for funding/talent/influence/etc. I shouldn’t really engage in explicitly calling for Bostrom to step down or help analyze the alternatives. But hopefully I can more generally help people think through the situation more clearly as a whole. I mainly wrote what I wrote because the comment made me angry enough that I felt like I had to.
Relevant context is that FHI had a hiring freeze and was dying before the apology. And yes, it’s only FHI. There was some kind of cutting corners to avoid bureaucracy and the department got mad. It’s possible that with another leader FHI would be able to be rehabilitated in the department. Nobody can say for sure, but their best bet would be to go with someone willing to play by the book, and it would be odd for the department to have a grudge against new leadership.
FHI and GPI have different aims. I think the better comparison would be FHI today vs. what FHI could be. Or FHI today vs. FHI before things went to pot.
All the people I know who have recently worked at/work at FHI want him to step down, they just are uncomfortable saying so directly. I agree that this is not a good place to raise the issue, but I’m not sure where is, given that. I hope this thread emboldens others to have a frank conversation, and it’s possibly helpful to have information out there. I would really like FHI to survive, and it sounds like it could if he stepped down.
I worked at FHI as a research scholar from 2018-2020. At that time I didn’t hear anyone saying that Bostrom should step down (and I definitely didn’t think he should).
To be clear, it has been obvious to everyone that FHI has had severe operations/logistical issues. However, it’s much less clear if or how FHI would function without Nick Bostrom.
I’m pretty nervous about rumors in situations like this.
If I were in charge of making any decision here, I’d send out surveys and have a bunch of conversations.