That's the only conclusion to be drawn about the racist views he expressed in his mid-20s. People who aren't creepy racists (or mentally ill) don't express such views in their 20s. Maybe some folks who aren't really creepy racists say stuff like this in their early teens. A few observations:
1. He should not be fired or sanctioned for this speech.
2. The views he defends, like longtermism, are not false because he is a creepy person.
3. The creepiness is yet a further reason to be suspicious of longtermism and the arguments for it, since they reveal a severe poverty of empathy and human emotions on the part of one its main proponents--attributes which would seem likely to spill over into "philosophical" reflections about what human beings matter and what has value. There are plenty of objections to longtermism (see for example), but it is perfectly reasonable for someone who does not have the time to work through all the arguments to view the creepiness of one of longtermism's leading proponents as grounds for serious skepticism. (Vide.)
Personally, I will say I was not surprised by this, in contrast to how I would be utterly dumbfounded if it turned out that Christine Korsgaard or Shelly Kagan (philosophers whose views I reject) turned out to be creepy racists. I am not astonished because longtermism has seemed to me to have a creepy vibe from the start, an elaborate and ugly rationalization for not doing anything about the actual suffering of billions of human beings, which no doubt is why it has been very appealing to creepy billionaries like Elon Musk.
Of course, I may be wrong about longtermism and about Professor Bostrom.
(Thanks to David Livingstone Smith for calling this to my attention.)
UPDATE: You can see Professor Bostrom's full explanation and apology here.
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