Nick Bostrom has apologised for an ‘disgusting’ and ‘repulsive’ email he wrote in 1996, Daily Mail confirmed.
The distinguished academic is Swedish-born philosopher and a professor at the University of Oxford, who is the founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute.
In 1996, he wrote an email for an unmoderated mailing list forum called The Extropians.In the email he wrote that ‘blacks are more stupid than whites’, followed by ‘I like that sentence and think it is true.’
In an apology statement published on his website, Mr Bostrom said The Extropians was where people had conversations about ‘science fiction, future technologies, society and all sorts of random things.’
However he also admitted that there were ‘large quantities’ of ‘outright offensive stuff’.
He then went on to say that he wanted to ‘clean out his own closet’ amid rumours his comments may be ‘maliciously framed’ or ‘used in swear campaigns’ and so he therefore repeated the email.
In the 1996 email, Mr Bostrom said: ‘Blacks are more stupid than whites. I like that sentence and think it is true.
But recently I have begun to believe that I won’t have much success with most people if I speak like that. They would think that I was a ‘racist’: that I disliked black people and thought that it is fair if blacks are treated badly.
‘I don’t. It’s just that based on what I have read, I think it is probable that black people have a lower average IQ than mankind in general, and I think that IQ is highly correlated with what we normally mean by ‘smart’ and ‘stupid’.
‘I may be wrong about the facts, but that is what the sentence means for me.
‘For most people, however, the sentence seems to be synonymous with: I hate those bloody n*****s!!!! … I think it is laudable if you accustom people to the offensiveness of truth, but be prepared that you may suffer some personal damage.’
A University of Oxford spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘The University and Faculty of Philosophy is currently investigating the matter but condemns in the strongest terms possible the views this particular academic expressed in his communications.
‘Neither the content nor language are in line with our strong commitment to diversity and equality.’
Chairman of the Oxford student union’s campaign for racial awareness and equality, Jake Milikan, told The Times that they stand ‘firmly’ against any racism and they ‘hope the university will take appropriate action.’
Bostrom chose to apologise and publish the historic email only after he heard rumours it had been uncovered and the fear he will be ‘maliciously framed’ and it used in smear campaigns against him.
‘I have caught wind that somebody has been digging through the archives of the Extropians with a view towards finding embarrassing materials to disseminate about people,’ he said at the start of his apology.
‘To get ahead of this, I want to clean out my own closet, and get rid of the very worst of the worst in my contribution file.’
