Robin Hanson

Robin Hanson (born 1959) is an associate professor of economics at George Mason 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 is also known for inventing Market Scoring Rules like LMSR (Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule) used by prediction markets such as Inkling Markets and Washington Stock Exchange, and has conducted research on signaling. 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. He is the lead editor for the "Overcoming Bias" blog of the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University.

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 more widestream appeal.

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:

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.

References

* [http://hanson.gmu.edu/mktscore.pdf Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule]
* [http://hanson.gmu.edu GMU Page]
*Citation
last = Cowen
first = Tyler
title = "Marginal Revolution", "Tyler on Robin on Tyler on Robin"
date = July 31, 2007
url = http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/07/assorted-link-2.html
accessdate = September 1, 2007
*cite book
last = Cowen
first = Tyler
title = Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist
publisher = Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
date = 2007
location = New York
pages = 93-94
isbn = 9780525950257
*cite news
last = Kahn
first = Jeremy
title = 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)
work = Fortune
pages = 179
date = September 15, 2003
url = http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/09/15/349149/index.htm

External links

* " [http://www.overcomingbias.com/ Overcoming Bias] "
* [http://hanson.gmu.edu/nodoom.html NoDoom] - Dr. Hanson's critique of the Doomsday argument
* [http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/malthus-v-the-singularity/ Malthus v. the Singularity] NY Times' John Tierney discusses Dr. Hanson's paper on the Technological singularity
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/business/31leonhardt.html You Want Innovation?] - The NY Times discusses Dr. Hanson's idea that prizes spur more innovation than grants
* [http://www.cato-unbound.org/2007/09/10/robin-hanson/cut-medicine-in-half/ Cut Medicine in Half] - Dr. Hanson's argument that the USA spends too much on health care now, and on the wrong kind
* [http://hanson.gmu.edu/Balan%20Hanson%20Debate%20Mar7-07.wma Hanson on Paternalism] - Dr. Hanson debates fellow economist David Balan on the merits of government paternalism (WMA audio)
* [http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2007/05/hanson_on_healt.html Podcast featuring Hanson] Dr. Hanson discusses health care on EconTalk
*Bloggingheads.tv: [http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/12535 Costly Truth-Seeking] Will Wilkinson interviews Dr. Hanson (video & audio)