Good point that Swiss EAs are a natural interface point, but Oxford EAs probably have a lot more that the NK regime wants. Using Switzerland as an intermediary is a common diplomatic practice.
I don’t think that the North Korean regime would trust the Oxford EAs if they would for example offer to educate elite North Koreans by giving out scholarships to Oxford for North Koreans.
North Korea doesn’t have a lot of cash and the elite North Koreans that have a Swiss education and who actually want that their children get a good Swiss education actually would be quite welcoming of Swiss EA on the admission practices of Swiss elite education institutions to give out scholarships to get as much as possible of the future leadership educated in Switzerland.
It’s quite unclear to me what the Oxford EAs could offer that’s actually something that’s important to members of the North Korean elite.
Despite offering things to the current North Korean elite, making an effort to recruit future members of that elite into EA might also be valuable.
This depends entirely on the caliber and status of the Oxford vs Swiss people. If the Swiss people are basically student groups (or student groups that have recently become a full fledged organization), and the Oxford people are Nick Bostrom who is already giving presentations to the UN, then even though the Swiss would be much better positioned, they might just not yet have the clout to accomplish the thing, whereas it’s at least plausible that Bostrom et all might.
(I don’t know much about Swiss EAs and so don’t know how well this concern maps to anything)
How do you think is a person like Nick Bostrom going to do something that’s helpful for the North Koreans? Could you give an example of what he could do, that would be valuable to them?
Writing a policy paper clarifying the Utilitarian and Decision-Theoretic calculus as it applies to some core North Korean interest, such as negotiation between parties of very unequal power that don’t trust each other, and its implications for nuclear disarmament.
Writing another persuasive essay like the letter from utopia directing some attention to the value of reconciling freedom to trade / global integration, with preserving the diversity of individual and collective minds.
Taking on a grad student from NK (or arranging for a more suitable colleague to do so.)
Not sure which if any of these would be interesting from a NK perspective.
Just posting to strongly disagree with this factual claim. They have tons of cash from illicit sources for the things the regime values, and it is certainly enough for much of the ruling class to do whatever they’d like.
Access to elite Anglo (and affiliated) philosophers who can strongly influence the next generation of Anglo political and business elites’ sense of what right / prosocial action is. Like, Peter Singer with North Korean Characteristics (or the Parfit equivalent) might be extremely valuable from a North Korean perspective, depending on how generalizable a perspective they have.
I would doubt that the North Korean’s believe that Western foreign policy is driven by a sense what prosocial action is in the first place. I would guess that from their view it’s all realpolitik.
Seems a bit surprising for the leaders of an avowedly Communist regime that received support at crucial times from other Communists on the basis of their ideology, to think that philosophy has little influence on the reality underlying realpolitik. Possible, but I think Pragmatism has been more popular here than there.
Good point that Swiss EAs are a natural interface point, but Oxford EAs probably have a lot more that the NK regime wants. Using Switzerland as an intermediary is a common diplomatic practice.
I don’t think that the North Korean regime would trust the Oxford EAs if they would for example offer to educate elite North Koreans by giving out scholarships to Oxford for North Koreans.
North Korea doesn’t have a lot of cash and the elite North Koreans that have a Swiss education and who actually want that their children get a good Swiss education actually would be quite welcoming of Swiss EA on the admission practices of Swiss elite education institutions to give out scholarships to get as much as possible of the future leadership educated in Switzerland.
It’s quite unclear to me what the Oxford EAs could offer that’s actually something that’s important to members of the North Korean elite.
Despite offering things to the current North Korean elite, making an effort to recruit future members of that elite into EA might also be valuable.
This depends entirely on the caliber and status of the Oxford vs Swiss people. If the Swiss people are basically student groups (or student groups that have recently become a full fledged organization), and the Oxford people are Nick Bostrom who is already giving presentations to the UN, then even though the Swiss would be much better positioned, they might just not yet have the clout to accomplish the thing, whereas it’s at least plausible that Bostrom et all might.
(I don’t know much about Swiss EAs and so don’t know how well this concern maps to anything)
How do you think is a person like Nick Bostrom going to do something that’s helpful for the North Koreans? Could you give an example of what he could do, that would be valuable to them?
Writing a policy paper clarifying the Utilitarian and Decision-Theoretic calculus as it applies to some core North Korean interest, such as negotiation between parties of very unequal power that don’t trust each other, and its implications for nuclear disarmament.
Writing another persuasive essay like the letter from utopia directing some attention to the value of reconciling freedom to trade / global integration, with preserving the diversity of individual and collective minds.
Taking on a grad student from NK (or arranging for a more suitable colleague to do so.)
Not sure which if any of these would be interesting from a NK perspective.
Just posting to strongly disagree with this factual claim. They have tons of cash from illicit sources for the things the regime values, and it is certainly enough for much of the ruling class to do whatever they’d like.
Okay, I might be wrong at that point (and consider it likely that you have a better insight there).
Access to elite Anglo (and affiliated) philosophers who can strongly influence the next generation of Anglo political and business elites’ sense of what right / prosocial action is. Like, Peter Singer with North Korean Characteristics (or the Parfit equivalent) might be extremely valuable from a North Korean perspective, depending on how generalizable a perspective they have.
I would doubt that the North Korean’s believe that Western foreign policy is driven by a sense what prosocial action is in the first place. I would guess that from their view it’s all realpolitik.
Seems a bit surprising for the leaders of an avowedly Communist regime that received support at crucial times from other Communists on the basis of their ideology, to think that philosophy has little influence on the reality underlying realpolitik. Possible, but I think Pragmatism has been more popular here than there.