[ExI] can seti have marcy?

Anders Sandberg anders at aleph.se
Mon Oct 19 19:18:03 UTC 2015


Actually, he was involved in SETI. As was at least one of the women. The 
SETI community is pretty stunned.

While it is possible to imagine misunderstandings ballooning like a dark 
comedy of manners, this seems to be a bit more serious.

Power relations in academia are complex. Remember, much of it is a 
remnant of the medieval master (professor), apprentice (grad student), 
journeyman (postdoc) system, with plenty of coteries and arbitrary 
judgements but also external forces holding purse strings ready to snap 
them back the moment there is embarrassment in the air. People are 
getting away with all sorts of things (oh, the stories I have heard...), 
but also being very vulnerable. There are many kinds of power in 
academia, and being powerful in one coin does not make you secure from 
others.

-- 
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University




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