Edge.org : People

NICK BOSTROM is director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. Beside philosophy, he also has a background in physics, computational neuroscience, mathematical logic, and artificial intelligence. His performance as an undergraduate set a national record in Sweden. Prior to becoming a tweedy academic, he dabbled in painting and poetry, and for a while did stand-up comedy in London.

Bostrom co-founded the World Transhumanist Association in 1998 to encourage public engagement with the prospects of future technologies being used to enhance human capacities. The WTA, a non-profit grassroots organization, now has some 4,400 members from all over the world, and local chapters in many countries. Later, he also co-founded the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a kind of virtual think tank.