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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by dgerard@awful.systems to c/sneerclub@awful.systems
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[-] scruiser@awful.systems 8 points 2 months ago

Nick Bostrom Took Many of His "Best" Ideas from Other People

My first reaction was that many thinkers and academics synthesize ideas from older sources and that this doesn't sound that bad (well except for some of the ideas being eugenics or AI doomerism)... some of the examples Emile points out look like just straight up plagiarism.

[-] YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 7 points 2 months ago

I agree that being a self-aggrandizing dick is probably on the lower end of the harms Bostrom has inflicted upon the world, but I think it's worth calling out, especially because it runs counter to the narrative that the people who are working to advance the bigger harms use to advance their agenda.

[-] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 7 points 2 months ago

Also, Bostrom is an academic writing for serious publications. The standards are higher than when Yudkowsky was rewriting pop-science books without sufficient attribution on his private blog, because Yudkowsky is a self-published autodidact.

[-] scruiser@awful.systems 5 points 2 months ago

Yeah, definitely. Even if you are heavily modifying an idea or synthesizing multiple ideas, not citing your sources is still major academic misconduct.

[-] nfultz@awful.systems 3 points 2 months ago

its not plagiarism, its listserv to journal intellectual arbitrage, totally rational thing to do. /s

this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2026
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