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Robin Hanson

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Revision as of 16:40, 6 February 2010 by Skomorokh (talk | contribs) (it is not obvious that he self-identifies or could be accurately described as a transhumanist; see http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/12/meh-transhumanism.html)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Robin Hanson

Robin D. Hanson (born August 28, 1959) is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He is known as an expert on idea futures, markets and was involved in the creation of the Foresight Exchange and DARPA's FutureMAP project. He invented market scoring rules like LMSR (Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule) used by prediction markets such as Inkling Markets and Consensus Point (where Hanson is Chief Scientist), and has conducted research on signaling. Hanson received a B.S. in physics from the University of California, Irvine in 1981, an M.S. in physics and an M.A. in Conceptual Foundations of Science from the University of Chicago in 1984, and a Ph.D. in social science from Caltech in 1997.

Hanson has expressed great disappointment in the cancellation of the FutureMAP project, and he attributes this to the controversy surrounding the related Total Information Awareness program. He supports a proposed system of government called 'futarchy', where policies would be determined by prediction markets. Until mid-2009, the blog Overcoming Bias was a group blog co-edited by Hanson and Eliezer Yudkowsky, although it is now Hanson's personal blog.

Hanson has received publicity in many mainstream publications such as the New York Times. A 2003 article in Fortune examined Hanson's work, revealing, among other things, that he is a believer in cryonics, his ideas have found some acceptance among extropians on the Internet, and he was motivated to seek his doctorate so that his theories would gain a wider audience.

Tyler Cowen has described his book Discover Your Inner Economist as "an (attempted) rebuttal to Robin" and notes that he is a major intellectual figure in the work, which includes a fairly detailed discussion of Hanson's views:

Robin has strange ideas....
My other friend and colleague Bryan Caplan put it best: "When the typical economist tells me about his latest research, my standard reaction is 'Eh, maybe.' Then I forget about it. When Robin Hanson tells me about his latest research, my standard reaction is 'No way! Impossible!' Then I think about it for years."

References

  1. Hanson, Robin. "Today I'm 50." Overcoming Bias. August 28, 2009. http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/08/today-im-50.html
  2. George Mason University, Department of Economics. "Faculty and Staff." http://economics.gmu.edu/faculty/index.html
  3. Robin Hanson: My best idea was prediction markets.
  4. Consensus Point. "About Us." http://www.consensuspoint.com/about/
  5. Hanson, Robin. "About – Welcome to Overcoming Bias." Overcoming Bias. http://www.overcomingbias.com/about
  6. Kahn, Jeremy (September 15, 2003). "The Man Who Would Have Us Bet On Terrorism — Not to Mention Discard Democracy and Cryogenically Freeze Our Heads — May Have a Point (About The Betting, We Mean)". Fortune. p. 179.
  7. Cowen, Tyler (July 31, 2007), Marginal Revolution, "Tyler on Robin on Tyler on Robin", retrieved September 1, 2007
  8. Cowen, Tyler (2007). Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc. pp. 93–94. ISBN 9780525950257.
  1. Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule
  2. GMU Page

External links

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