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\begin{flushright}
hep-th/0609007\\
UT-KOMABA/06-8\\
September 2006
\end{flushright}
\vspace{0.3cm}
\begin{center}
\Large
Holography
of  Wilson-Loop Expectation Values \\
with Local Operator Insertions

\vspace{0.7cm}

\normalsize
 \vspace{0.4cm}
Akitsugu {\sc Miwa}
\footnote{e-mail address:\ \ {\tt akitsugu@hep1.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp}}
and
Tamiaki {\sc  Yoneya}
\footnote{
e-mail address:\ \ {\tt tam@hep1.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp}}

\vspace{0.3cm}

{\it Institute of Physics, University of Tokyo\\
Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902}

\vspace{1cm}
Abstract
\end{center}
\vspace{0.4cm}
We study the expectation values of Wilson-loop
operators with the insertions of local operators
$Z^J$ and $\overline{Z}^J$ for large $J$ from the bulk viewpoint of
AdS/CFT correspondence.
Classical solutions of
strings attached to such
deformed Wilson loops at the conformal  boundary
are constructed
and are applied to the computation of
Wilson-loop expectation values.
We argue that in order to have such solutions for general
insertions at finite positions in the base spacetime of
the gauge theory, it is crucial to interpret the holographic
correspondence in the semi-classical picture as a tunneling
phenomenon, as has been previously established for holographic
computations of correlators of BMN operators. This also requires
to use the Euclideanized AdS background and Euclidean super Yang-Mills
theory.

\newpage
\section{Introduction}
In the applications of the conjectured
AdS/CFT (or gravity/gauge) correspondence \cite{AdS/CFT,gkpw}, Wilson-loop expectation values have been a focus of much interest.  Besides their role
as an important probe for studying
phase structures of gauge theories, the
Wilson-loop operators have long been regarded as a clue to
possible string picture for gauge theories.
With the advent of the AdS/CFT correspondence,
Wilson loops in general can be associated with the
 world sheet of strings in the bulk AdS spacetime,
in such a  way that the boundary of the string world sheets
coincides with the locus of a given Wilson loop located on
a holographic screen at the conformal boundary of the
AdS background.
Using this picture initiated in \cite{AdSWilson},
a lot of interesting results have been
reported.
Most of such results obtained from
the viewpoint of bulk string theory should be regarded as
predictions of the AdS/CFT correspondence, and direct
checks of corresponding results on the gauge-theory side
have been difficult because they usually require
genuine nonperturbative calculations. In certain special cases,
such as circular (or straight-line) loops
\cite{Berenstein:1998ij,dgo}
which can be constrained by (super)conformal symmetries,
some pieces of nontrivial evidence for the agreement of
both sides have been obtained. For example, it has been shown
\cite{es,dg,sz}
 that a ladder-graph approximation gives results which are
consistent with predictions from the string picture in the bulk.
It is important to extend such correspondence to other cases.

A first extension to be considered along this line would
be various small deformations of loops from circle,
although it is still difficult to perform such calculation
on the gauge-theory side, since we cannot expect
that ladder-type approximations continue to be
valid for general small deformations.
Another interesting case would be those with various
insertions of local operators along the Wilson line.\footnote{
Of course we can also understand these local operator insertions
as deformations of Wilson loop.
See for example \cite{Polyakov}.
}
In particular,
we can consider
insertions of local operators with large R-charge
angular momentum $J$
such as $Z(x)^J$ and their cousins, ``spin-chain operators".
Such operators can
preserve covariance under an SL(2, R) part of  conformal
transformations.\footnote{
For other cases of Wilson-loop correlators involving
 large-$J$ local operators, see \cite{zarem}.
}

In a recent paper \cite{dk},
a nice discussion of such Wilson loops  has been given.
On the bulk side, the authors discussed the spectrum of
strings in the large $J$ limit. The insertions of the
local operators are interpreted as
nonzero  $S^5$-angular momentum density on the
world sheet
which is essentially concentrated
at the center of the AdS$_5$ background in their treatment.
The special role of the AdS center follows from
 a familiar discussion of the BMN limit \cite{bmn}
corresponding to $Z^J$,
while the (doubled) Wilson lines are still located at the
conformal boundary without any deformation. The absence of
deformation on the conformal boundary has been
interpreted as signifying the situation where
the positions of operator insertions are sent to
infinity with an infinitely large loop.

In the context of bulk string picture, however, it is clearly
more natural to
consider string world sheets with nontrivial deformations
corresponding to the insertions of local composite operators at
generic finite points
on the conformal boundary. We  would then be able to
directly evaluate the expectation values for
arbitrary circular loops using such string
solutions by following the standard
bulk interpretation of Wilson-loop expectation values.
The purpose of the present note is to demonstrate how to
achieve such a picture in a simplest nontrivial setting
and to give some remarks relevant
to this question, in hope of providing a basis for
further systematic investigations of Wilson-loop
expectation values with more complicated configurations
of local operator insertions.  In particular, we will point out that
a `tunneling' picture which has been developed
in \cite{dsy,yy}
in order to reconcile the BMN limit with the
spacetime holographic picture is crucial for this purpose.
This approach has led to a natural prescription \cite{dy}
for a holographic correspondence between
OPE coefficients of the conformal gauge theory to a
particular
3-point vertex of string-field theory.
Establishing such correspondence beyond mere
comparison of the spectrum has been difficult  in the
usual approach which does not take into account the
tunneling picture.

\section{Tunneling picture and bulk string solutions}
The Wilson-loop operator we consider is
 \begin{equation}
W[C; \vec{x}_+, \vec{x}_-]={\rm Tr}\Big[{\cal P}
\exp \Big(\oint_C  ds [iA_{\mu}(\vec{x}(s))
\dot{x}^{\mu}
+\sqrt{(\dot{\vec{x}})^2}\phi^i(\vec{x}(s))\theta^i]\Big)
 Z(\vec{x}(s_1))^J\overline{Z}(\vec{x}(s_2))^J
\Big]
\label{dwilson}
\end{equation}
where $\vec{x}_+=\vec{x}(s_1), \, \vec{x}_-
=\vec{x}(s_2)$
are the positions of insertions and the contour $C$
is assumed to be a circle.  We denote by $\vec{x}=
\{x^{\mu}\}$
the 4-dimensional base spacetime coordinates. Other notations
are standard. For simplicity, we assume that
the direction of the unit vector $\theta^i$ along the $S^5$
is fixed to be the 4-th direction, $\phi^i\theta^i=\phi^4$ and
that the direction of the angular momentum is
in the $5$-$6$ plane, $Z=(\phi_5+i\phi_6)/\sqrt{2}$.
If we wish to study the behavior of the vacuum
expectation value of this operator from the viewpoint
of string theory in the bulk,
the first task is to obtain an appropriate classical
string configuration such that, as we approach the
conformal boundary,
it reduces to the circle $C$ with the
momentum density along $C$ being concentrated at
the positions of insertions. We choose the Polyakov-type
action in the conformal gauge for world-sheet parametrization.
Also for the target spacetime, we use the Poincar\'{e}
coordinates for the AdS part with the metric
\begin{equation}
ds^2=R^2\Big[
\frac{dz^2+d\vec{x}^2}{z^2}  +\cos^2\theta (d\psi)^2 +(d\theta)^2 +\sin^2\theta d\tilde{\Omega}_3^2\Big].
\end{equation}
For the $S^5$ part, the 4-th direction pointing toward the north pole corresponds to
$\theta={\pi/2}$ and the angle in the 5-6 plane
at $\theta=0$ is $\psi$. The angular momentum
along $\psi$ is then
\begin{equation}
J=\frac{R^2}{2\pi\alpha'}
\int d\sigma \cos^2\theta(\tau, \sigma)\dot{\psi}(\tau, \sigma) .
\end{equation}

Assume that
the world-sheet time coordinate $\tau$ is chosen such that
$\psi(\tau, \sigma)=\tau$.
The equation of motion then
requires that $\theta$ is $\tau$-independent.
The density of the angular momentum with
respect to $\sigma$ cannot exceed a finite constant
$R^2/2\pi\alpha'$.
In order for the R-charge angular momentum to be localized with respect to the target spacetime, the range of $\sigma$ where $\cos\theta\sim  1,
\vec{x}{\, '}\sim 0, z'\sim 0$  are satisfied must be infinitely large.
For the $S^5$ part, the solution satisfying the
criterion is easily found as in \cite{dk}
to be
\begin{equation}
(\cos \theta, \psi)=(\tanh \sigma, \tau)
\label{s5part}
\end{equation}
which also satisfies the Virasoro constraint in the
form
$
 (\dot{\psi})^2 \cos^2 \theta + (\theta')^2=1, \, \,
 \dot{\psi}\psi' \cos^2 \theta + \dot{\theta}\theta'=0.
$
The region where the R-charge momentum is localized
is where $\sigma\rightarrow \infty$. Thus, in the limit of large $\sigma$,
the AdS coordinates must also be constant with respect to
$\sigma$ at least when we consider the
near-boundary region $z\sim 0$.
Hence the Virasoro-Hamiltonian constraint
in this region reduces to
\begin{equation}
\frac{\dot{z}^2 +\dot{\vec{x}}^2}{z^2}+1=0.
\label{minkowconstr}
\end{equation}
This shows that for the existence of real solution,
we have to require at least that $\dot{\vec{x}}$ is timelike.
The equation of motion $\partial_{\tau}\Big({\partial_{\tau}\vec{x}\over
z^2}\Big)-\partial_{\sigma}\Big({\partial_{\sigma}\vec{x}\over z^2}
\Big)=0$
 for $\vec{x}$ reduces, under the same condition, to
$\dot{\vec{x}}/z^2=$ constant.
We choose the scale of this integration
constant by introducing a parameter $\ell$
such that  $\dot{\vec{x}}^2/z^4=-\ell^{-2}$.
However, we then have always $z^2\ge \ell^2$
since (\ref{minkowconstr}) is now equivalent to $\ell^2\dot{z}^2=
z^2(z^2-\ell^2)$.
Since we are seeking for a
string configuration of which the deformation
corresponding to local operator insertions
reaches the conformal boundary
$z=0$, this is not acceptable.
Hence, there exists {\it no} desired classical solution which
reaches the conformal
boundary even if we assume that the loop $C$ extends in the
time-like direction. The situation \cite{dsy,yy}
is the same as in the {\it usual}
formulation of the BMN limit
for which it is not possible to directly apply the
GKPW prescription for the same reason as we encounter here
that the pp-wave trajectory with
Lorentzian metric does not reach the conformal boundary.
Hence, if we remain in the Lorentzian approaches
such as in \cite{dk}, we cannot achieve the desired picture.

The resolution of this puzzle is quite simple.
We would like to refer the reader to \cite{dsy,yy}\footnote{
 In the present note, we give only a somewhat sketchy explanation for the
necessity of the tunneling picture to avoid too much repetition.
For an up-to-date review including other references,
we strongly recommend the reader to consult the second ref. in [14]
which also contains a brief discussion on the solution (7)
discussed below.
}
for detailed discussions on this matter.
In essence, we have to
take into account that, from the viewpoint of semi-classical
approximation, the holographic correspondence
between bulk and conformal boundary is actually
a tunneling phenomenon as could be inferred
from the beginning of AdS/CFT correspondence
embodied in the famous GKPW relation. Namely, we have to
study the tunneling region $z^2(z^2-\ell^2)\leq 0$.
As is familiar in elementary quantum mechanics, we perform
the Wick rotation $\tau
\rightarrow -i\tau$ for the world-sheet time. We
are then forced to consider Euclideanized
AdS (EAdS) by assuming that $\vec{x}$ is now a 4-vector with
Euclidean signature, in order to keep the relative sign
between $z^4$ and $z^2\ell^2$ against
the Wick rotation
of the world-sheet time coordinate. Of course, if
we started from a loop extending to space-like directions,
only the Wick rotation with respect to $\tau$ would have been
sufficient.
However, when we consider the light-cone
quantization of strings around
the classical solution, the Wick rotation with respect to
the target time direction would be very important irrespectively
of the directions of the loop.

The Hamiltonian constraint now reduces to $\ell^2\dot{z}^2=
z^2(\ell^2-z^2)$, and the solution of the equation of motion
 is obtained as
\begin{equation}
z=\ell /\cosh \tau, \quad x_4=\ell \tanh \tau
\label{tunnel}
\end{equation}
which is nothing but a semi-circle
$z^2+x_4^2=\ell^2$ in the two-dimensional section $(z, x_4)$
and
reaches the conformal boundary as $\tau
\rightarrow \pm \infty$.
We have chosen a trajectory lying in the  4-th direction
of the EAdS spacetime. Note that the integration constant
$\ell$ gives the distance $|\vec x_+ - \vec x_-|=2\ell$ between
 the two local operator insertions on the boundary.
It should also be noted that as a consequence
of the above Wick rotation we have to rotate the angle
coordinate along the 5-6 plane
simultaneously as $\psi \rightarrow -i\psi$ to keep the value
of R-charge angular momentum $J$ intact.
Thus the 10-dimensional spacetime as a whole is of Lorentzian
signature effectively. This is why we can still perform a
Penrose-type limit in the tunneling picture.
Eq.(6) is the same geodesic trajectory as the
one used for discussing the correlators of the BMN operators and
the associated `holographic' string field theory \cite{dsy, dy}.

 It is now evident that in order to
have the world-sheet  configuration
corresponding to our Wilson-loop operator
with local-operator insertions we have to
rely on the tunneling picture.
As in the case \cite{dsy} of the BMN limit,
the world-sheet time variable $\tau$
in (\ref{tunnel})
can be identified with the Euclidean time parameter  $\tau$ of
the global coordinates for EAdS background,
$
R^2[
\cosh^2\rho (d\tau)^2 +(d\rho)^2 +\sinh^2\rho d\Omega_3^2]
$
in terms of which the trajectory is nothing but the
geodesic at $\rho=0$ which does reach the
boundary in the limit of large $|\tau|$.
The full string world-sheet will be described
as a trajectory of an open string propagating from boundary
to boundary such that the position of localized R-charge
momentum traverses along this geodesic of the EAdS background.
The desired solution can be easily obtained by going to the global EAdS metric
and then return again to the Poincar\'{e} metric.
In the case of straight-line Wilson loop,  the solution
in the global EAdS metric is in fact
related to the solution discussed in \cite{dk} by our Wick rotation.

Choosing the
circle $C$ on the boundary in the $x_3$-$x_4$ plane and the
points of the insertions on the $x_4$ axis, we find
 that the full world sheet is described by two
patches designated by suffix $\pm$, given as
\[
(z(\tau, \sigma), x_3(\tau, \sigma), x_4(\tau, \sigma))_{\pm}
\]
\begin{equation}
=
\ell (
\frac{\sinh \sigma}{\cosh \sigma\cosh \tau \pm \alpha},
\pm \frac{\sqrt{1-\alpha^2}}{\cosh \sigma \cosh \tau \pm \alpha},
\frac{\cosh \sigma \sinh \tau}{\cosh \sigma \cosh \tau \pm \alpha}
).
\label{sol1}
\end{equation}
In addition to the integration variable $\ell$ appeared already
to describe the distance of insertion points, we
introduced another parameter $\alpha$ which gives the radius,
$r=\ell / \sqrt{1-\alpha^2}$, of the
circle $C$ for a given $\ell$.
As a matter of course, solutions with
circles of different
sizes on the conformal boundary
are related by conformal transformations in the bulk EAdS
background. For our later purpose, it is most convenient
to keep these two integration constants explicitly.
The ranges of the world-sheet coordinates are
$0\le \sigma \le \infty$ and $-\infty \le \tau \le \infty$ for both
patches.
The trajectory (\ref{tunnel}), along which
 the R-charge angular momentum is concentrated
and the two patches are sewn together,
corresponds to the limit $\sigma\rightarrow \infty$ in
conformity with the above discussion of localized angular
momentum.

On the other hand, the limit
$\sigma \rightarrow 0$ gives
\begin{equation}
(z(\tau, 0), x_3(\tau, 0), x_4(\tau, 0))_{\pm}
=\ell (0, \pm \frac{\sqrt{1-\alpha^2}}{\cosh \tau \pm \alpha},
\frac{\sinh \tau}{\cosh \tau \pm \alpha})
\end{equation}
which corresponds to the circle $C$ on the boundary whose center is
located on the $x_3$ axis.
The points of local operator insertions are
$\vec{x}_{\pm}=\ell(0, 0,\pm1) $,  as we
obtain by taking the limits $\tau\rightarrow
\pm \infty$, respectively, in either  of these expressions
($\sigma=0$ or
$\sigma\rightarrow \infty$).
For the $S^5$ part, we can adopt the same form as
(\ref{s5part}) with the understanding of a double
Wick rotation.

Figs. 1-3 exhibit the equal-$\tau$ and-$\sigma$ lines on the full world sheet
with respect to the bulk target space.
In particular, in the case of the straight-line loop ($\alpha=1$,
Fig. 3), the two patches with signs $\pm$ correspond to the regions $z^2+x_4^2\le \ell^2$
or $z^2+x_4^2 \ge \ell^2$, respectively, and
are related to each other by an inversion transformation
$(z, x_4)\rightarrow \ell^2(z/(z^2+x_4^2), x_4/(z^2+x_4^2))$.
If we wished and did not insist on the
conformal gauge, we could have represented the above solution
using a single patch. In fact, the
solution with $\alpha=1$ can equivalently be expressed using complex coordinates both for world sheet
and target space as
\begin{equation}
\tau+i \tilde{\theta}=\ln i{x_4+\ell +i z\over x_4-\ell +iz} ,
\end{equation}
where $\tilde{\theta}$ is related to $\sigma$ by
$\tanh \sigma=\cos \tilde{\theta}$. The two patches
correspond to $-\pi/2\leq \tilde \theta \leq 0 $ and
$0 \leq \tilde{\theta}\leq  \pi/2$.
The solution with other values of $\alpha$ can
of course be obtained by conformal
transformation in the target space.
This form is very suggestive, since it
strikingly resembles to similar expressions in the light-cone string
theory in flat spacetime.  It might be worthwhile to
elaborate this form further in a direction, say,
of extending it to cases with multi-point insertions
of local operators. For the purpose of the present note, however,
we will use the above two-patch representation.
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\begin{center}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.3\textwidth}
\begin{center}
 \includegraphics[width=3cm,clip]{cutoff0.eps}
\caption{{\footnotesize The equal $\tau$-$\sigma$
curves on the full world sheet for the case of
the smallest (with fixed $\ell$)  loop $\alpha=0$.}}
\end{center}
\end{minipage}
\quad
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.3\textwidth}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=3cm,clip]{cutoff08.eps}
\caption{{\footnotesize The equal $\tau$-$\sigma$
curves on the full world sheet for a generic loop $0<\alpha <1$.}}
\end{center}
\end{minipage}
\quad
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.3\textwidth}
\begin{center}
 \includegraphics[width=3cm,clip]{cutoff1.eps}
 \caption{{\footnotesize The equal $\tau$-$\sigma$
curves on the full world sheet for the straight-line loop $\alpha=1$.}}
\end{center}
\end{minipage}
\end{center}
\end{figure}

The total R-charge angular momentum carried by this solution
is
\begin{equation}
J=\frac{R^2}{\pi \alpha'}\int_0^{\infty} d\sigma
\tanh^2 \sigma,
\end{equation}
which is infinite. Note  that elimination of factor 2
in the prefactor before the integral  is due to the presence of
two patches. Thus, we have to actually introduce a cutoff
for  $\sigma\le \sigma_{\Lambda}$ with a sufficiently large
$\sigma_{\Lambda}\gg 1$, so that the angular momentum
is now given as $J\sim R^2(\sigma_{\Lambda}-1)/\pi \alpha'+O({\rm e}^{-2\sigma_{\Lambda}})$. With regard to the dependence
on $J$, our treatment will be exact up to nonperturbative
exponential corrections $O({\rm e}^{-2\pi\alpha' J/R^2})$ which can be
ignored in the power series expansion in $1/J$
within our  semi-classical approximation.

\section{Computing the Wilson-loop expectation value}
Our next task is to evaluate the value of an appropriate classical
string action functional for this configuration. We have adopted the
Polyakov-type action for the bulk world sheet and are interpreting the
process as a scattering event of an open string
on the  world sheet from
$\tau=-\infty$ to $\tau=\infty$ for the
given conserved R-charge angular momentum $J$.
Thus we should consider the Routhian after a Legendre
transformation with respect to $\psi$,
\[
S_{bulk}=\frac{R^2}{4\pi \alpha'}\int d\tau d\sigma
\Big[
\frac{1}{z^2}\Big((\dot{z})^2 +(z')^2 +(\dot{\vec{x}})^2
+(\vec{x}')^2\Big)
+(\dot{\theta})^2+(\theta')^2
\]
\begin{equation}
\hspace{4cm}
 -\cos^2\theta
\Big((\dot{\psi})^2 + (\psi')^2  \Big)
- {4 \pi \alpha' \over R^2}\Pi_{\psi}\dot{\psi}\Big]
\end{equation}
with $\Pi_{\psi}=-R^2 \dot{\psi} \cos^2 \theta/2\pi\alpha'$ being the
$\psi$-momentum. The minus sign of the $\psi$-part comes from
the Wick rotation.
Since the world-sheet has a boundary, the action functional
 is subject to ambiguity of boundary terms. We follow the argument of
ref.\cite{dgo}
which demands that the total action should be a
functional of momentum  in the radial direction
of the AdS part, with respect to the
dependence on the boundary.
This requirement does not yet
uniquely fix the choice of the boundary term,
since they are {\it not} in general invariant under
canonical transformations. One natural criterion
for the choice of the variable is that the
momentum should behave in a well-defined manner as we approach
the boundary. This criterion is not satisfied if we choose $z$,
since the radial momentum $\Pi_z=R^2\dot{z}/2\pi \alpha' z^2$
for the above solution is not well-defined at $z=0$,
corresponding to $\sigma=0$.
Instead of $z$, we choose $u=1/z$ since $\Pi_u=R^2\dot{u}/2\pi
\alpha' u^2$ behaves well there.
These two different choices actually
 lead to boundary contributions with
opposite signs.
Thus the boundary action we adopt is
\begin{equation}
S_{boundary}=\frac{R^2}{2\pi \alpha'}\oint_{boundary}\Big(
d\tau \frac{u'}{u} -d\sigma \frac{\dot{u}}{u}
\Big) .
\end{equation}
Then the expectation value of the Wilson
operator (\ref{dwilson}) is essentially
${\rm e}^{-S_{bulk}-S_{boundary}}$ up to
a possible normalization factor, which should not
depend on the spacetime configuration of the loop $C$ and
the positions $\vec{x}_{\pm}$ of insertions provided
 that the string action captures the gauge-theory dynamics of
 Wilson loops appropriately.

\subsection{Regularization I}
To carry out a well-defined evaluation of this action integral,
we have to introduce a definite regularization scheme which
controls possible infinities arising at least near the boundary
region $z\sim 0$
corresponding to small $\sigma$ and/or large $\tau$.
The simplest conceivable prescription is to introduce two
cutoff parameters $\sigma_0$ and $\epsilon$ on the
world sheet such that
\begin{equation}
\sigma\ge \sigma_0, \quad \cosh \tau \le \frac{\ell}{\epsilon}
\label{worldsheetcutoff}
\end{equation}
and take the limits $\sigma_0\rightarrow 0,
\epsilon \rightarrow 0$ afterward.  The second condition
amounts to setting a lower bound  for the radial coordinate
$z$ in the target space
at the points of insertions for sufficiently large $\sigma$,
$
\lim_{\sigma_{\Lambda}\rightarrow
\infty} z(\sigma_{\Lambda}, \tau) \ge \epsilon .
$
In the case of local  operators, this is a standard
short-distance cutoff in applying the GKPW relation.
We assume that both the bulk and
boundary actions should be computed for the same finite
rectangular region defined by these cutoff conditions (\ref{worldsheetcutoff}).
For the cutoff $\sigma_{\Lambda}$ associated with
large R-charge angular momentum, it is not necessary
to introduce any boundary term.

Using the Virasoro condition
\begin{equation}
\frac{1}{z^2}(\dot{z}^2 - (z')^2 +\dot{\vec{x}}^2
-(\vec{x}')^2)=
1 = -\dot{\theta}^2+(\theta')^2 +\cos^2\theta((\dot{\psi})^2
-(\psi')^2)
\end{equation}
satisfied by the above solution and also  a part of the equations
of motion, the bulk action is evaluated to be
\begin{equation}
S_{bulk}=\frac{R^2}{\pi \alpha'}\int_{-\tau(\epsilon)}^{\tau(\epsilon)}d\tau
\int_{\sigma_0}^{\sigma_{\Lambda}}d\sigma
\frac{\dot{z}^2+\dot{\vec{x}}^2}{z^2}
=\frac{2R^2}{\pi \alpha'}\int^{\tau(\epsilon)}_{0}d\tau
(\sigma-\coth \sigma)\Big|^{\sigma_{\Lambda}}_{\sigma_0},
\end{equation}
with $\tau(\epsilon)\sim \log (2\ell/\epsilon)$
being the upper bound for $|\tau|$
determined by  (\ref{worldsheetcutoff}).
Because of the conformal isometry, the bulk action
is independent of the radius $r$ of the circle, except for possible
implicit dependence through the cutoff prescription.
The boundary action is equal to
\[
S_{boundary}=\frac{R^2}{\pi \alpha'}\Big[
\int_{0}^{\tau(\epsilon)}d\tau \Big(
-2\coth \sigma_0+\frac{\sinh\sigma_0 \cosh \tau}{
\cosh \sigma_0\cosh \tau +\alpha}
+\frac{\sinh\sigma_0 \cosh \tau}{
\cosh \sigma_0\cosh \tau -\alpha}
\Big)
\]
\begin{equation}
-\int_{\sigma_0}^{\sigma_{\Lambda}}d\sigma
\Big(
\frac{\cosh \sigma \sinh \tau(\epsilon)}{
\cosh \sigma \cosh\tau(\epsilon)+\alpha}
+
\frac{\cosh \sigma \sinh \tau(\epsilon)}{
\cosh \sigma \cosh\tau(\epsilon)-\alpha}\Big)
\Big].
\end{equation}
The contribution of the first term $-2\coth \sigma_0$ in the first brace
just cancels the same but opposite
contribution from the second term at $\sigma
=\sigma_0\rightarrow 0$ of the bulk action.
Therefore, the total action is given, in the limit
where the cutoff parameters must be finally set, by
\[
S_{total}\equiv
S_{bulk}+S_{boundary}=2J \log\frac{2\ell}{ \epsilon}
-2J -\frac{2R^2 }{ \pi\alpha'}
\]
\begin{equation}
-\frac{R^2 }{ \pi \alpha'}\sigma_0
\frac{2\alpha }{ \sqrt{\cosh^2 \sigma_0-\alpha^2}}
\Big(\arctan \frac{\cosh \sigma_0-\alpha}{ \sqrt{\cosh^2\sigma_0-\alpha^2}}
-\arctan \frac{\cosh\sigma_0+\alpha}{ \sqrt{\cosh^2\sigma_0-\alpha^2}}
\Big).\label{totalaction}
\end{equation}
Note that we have still kept the small
cutoff parameter $\sigma_0 \ll 1$ here,
since the last term has a rather subtle behavior depending
on the parameter $\alpha$.
When $\alpha<1$, this reduces in the limit $\sigma_0
\rightarrow 0$ to
\begin{equation}
S_{total}\Big|_{\alpha <1}=2J \log\frac{2\ell}{ \epsilon}
-2J -\frac{2R^2 }{ \pi\alpha'} . \label{wscutoff_a<1}
\end{equation}
The case $\alpha=1$ of the straight-line Wilson loop,
however, is special: We obtain
\begin{equation}
S_{total}\Big|_{\alpha=1}=2J \log\frac{2\ell}{ \epsilon}+
\frac{R^2}{ \alpha'}
-2J -\frac{2R^2 }{ \pi\alpha'}. \label{wscutoff_a=1}
\end{equation}
The additional finite piece $R^2/\alpha'$ in this result
comes from the $(-)$ patch corresponding to the second term
in the brace of (\ref{totalaction}) which  is singular when $\alpha=1$.

Let us now discuss the meaning of these results.
The dependence $d S_{total}/d(2\ell) =
2J/2\ell$ on the distance $2\ell$ of the inserted local
fields $Z^J$ and $\overline{Z}^J$ shows the
correct scaling behavior as it should be by the
conformal covariance property \cite{dk}
of Wilson-loop operators of the type being treated here.
On the other hand, the dependence on the loop-scale
parameter $\alpha$
takes  the form
\begin{equation}
S_{total}\Big|_{\alpha=1}-S_{total}\Big|_{\alpha<1}
=\frac{R^2}{ \alpha'}.
\label{alphadiff}
\end{equation}
This behavior is the same as in the case without local-operator
insertions.

On the gauge-theory side, as argued in \cite{dg}
for the case of ordinary circular Wilson loops without
local operator insertions,
the relation (\ref{alphadiff}) can be interpreted as
arising from an anomaly associated with the inversion
conformal transformation between a finite circle and
a straight line. Their argument seems go through
to the case with local operator insertions.
This is consistent with the ladder-graph approximation
in the limit $R^4/(\alpha')^2 \gg 1$, since
we can easily check that the contribution of
ladder-rainbow graphs
which take into account a planar set of the propagators of scalar
($\phi_4$) and gauge fields directly connecting points along the loop is
nonzero only for the case of finite circle $\alpha<1$ and
is proportional, apart from a power-behaving prefactor, to
\begin{equation}
I_1(\sqrt{g^2N}\frac{s}{ 2\pi})I_1(\sqrt{g^2N}\frac{2\pi-s}{
2\pi})\rightarrow {\rm e}^{\sqrt{g^2N}}  ,
\end{equation}
 using the same notation ($R^4/(\alpha')^2=g^2N \gg 1$) as in the
 reference \cite{sz}.
The new parameter $s\, \,  (0<s<2\pi)$ denotes the
coordinate length between
two local operator insertions measured along the Wilson loop of
total length $2\pi$.
Thus the ratio of the case of finite circles to that of straight line
agrees with (\ref{alphadiff}). The ladder approximation
is also consistent with the dependence on $\ell$. The validity
of such an approximation has not been justified from
first principle, but is not
unreasonable in view of remaining supersymmetry for
this type of deformation
\cite{Zarembo}. For a discussion related to supersymmetry
of the Wilson loops of our type, we
refer the reader to \cite{dk, dr}.

The dependence  on the short-distance cutoff parameter $\epsilon$
must be removed by wave-function renormalization of our
 Wilson loop operator  as usual. On the other  hand,
it is not entirely clear whether we can put any universal
meaning on the remaining finite contribution
which does not depend on loop-configuration
parameters $\ell$ and $\alpha$, but does depend on the
coupling constant.
For the purpose of clarifying this problem,
it is useful to study a different
regularization scheme.

\subsection{Regularization II}
    From the target-space point of view, the infinities of $S_{bulk}$ arise
in two ways: One is from singular behavior of the
Poincar\'{e} metric
 near the conformal boundary, and  the other is from the
infinite extension of the world sheet in the direction of $x_4$
for $\alpha=1$. Instead of cutoffs in terms of the world-sheet
coordinates, it is then equally natural to regularize these infinities
using the target-space coordinates as
\begin{equation}
 \big(z(\tau,\sigma)\big)_\pm \geq \epsilon,
  \quad \big|\big( x_4 (\tau,\sigma) \big)_- \big| \leq L.
  \label{cutoff}
\end{equation}
The second condition is meaningful
only in the case of $\alpha=1$.
The similar condition for $(x_4)_+$ is always satisfied for $L>\ell$.
The boundaries of the domain of integration with respect to
the $(\tau, \sigma)$ coordinates
are given by the following curves
\begin{align}
 & \textrm{($+$)-patch} \qquad
 C_\epsilon^+
 :\quad \ell \sinh \sigma = \epsilon \big( \cosh \sigma \cosh \tau + \alpha
 \big) \quad(\alpha \leq 1),  \label{C+} \\
 & \textrm{($-$)-patch} \qquad
 \begin{cases}
  C_\epsilon^-: \quad
  \ell \sinh \sigma = \epsilon \big( \cosh \sigma \cosh \tau - \alpha
 \big) \quad  (\alpha \leq 1),\\
  C_L^-: \quad
  \ell \cosh \sigma |\sinh \tau| = L
  \big(
  \cosh \sigma \cosh \tau  - 1
  \big) \quad (\alpha = 1).
 \end{cases}
 \label{C-}
\end{align}
Because of these boundary curves with complicated
$\tau$-$\sigma$ dependence,
integrals become more cumbersome than
the previous regularization. The curves
with $\alpha=1$ are illustrated
 in Fig. \ref{cutoff+} and \ref{cutoff-}.
In the case of the ($+$)-patch,
curves with $\alpha < 1$ and $\alpha=1$ are essentially the same.
As for the case of ($-$)-patch, the curve $C_L^-$
in Fig. \ref{cutoff-} does not exist for $\alpha<1$.
Remember that as before we have another cutoff $\sigma_\Lambda$ related to the angular momentum $J$. For definiteness,
we take the limit $\epsilon \to 0$ and $L \to \infty$ for
fixed large $J$. It is not
difficult to check that the opposite order of the limits
gives the same final result.
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\begin{center}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.45\textwidth}
\begin{center}
 \includegraphics[width=5cm,clip]{cutoff+.eps}
\caption{\footnotesize{The boundary contours $\sigma=\sigma_\Lambda$ and
 $C_\epsilon^+$ for the ($+$)-patch.
The functions $\tau_\epsilon^+(\sigma)$ and $\sigma_\epsilon^+(\tau)$
are determined by \eqref{C+} with $\tau > 0$.
}
}
\label{cutoff+}
\end{center}
\end{minipage}
\qquad
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.45\textwidth}
\begin{center}
 \includegraphics[width=5cm,clip]{cutoff-.eps}
\caption{\footnotesize{The boundary contours $\sigma=\sigma_\Lambda$,
 $C_\epsilon^-$ and $C_L^-$ for the ($-$)-patch with $\alpha=1$.
The functions $\tau_\epsilon^-(\sigma)$ and $\sigma_\epsilon^-(\tau)$
are determined by the first equation of \eqref{C-} and
 $\sigma_L^+(\tau)$ is determined by the second equation
 of \eqref{C-} with $\tau > 0$. }}
\label{cutoff-}
\end{center}
\end{minipage}
\end{center}
\end{figure}

For $\alpha < 1$, contributions from two patches are essentially the
same. We give brief summary only for the ($+$)-patch. The
bulk contribution is
\begin{equation}
 S_{bulk}^+
 =
 \frac{R^2 }{ 2 \pi \alpha'}
 \int_{-\tau_\epsilon^+(\sigma_\Lambda)}
     ^{\tau_\epsilon^+ (\sigma_\Lambda)} d \tau
   \int_{\sigma_\epsilon^+(\tau)}^{\sigma_\Lambda} d \sigma
  \frac{\dot z^2+ \dot{\vec{x}}^2 }{ z^2}
 =
 \frac{R^2 }{ \pi \alpha'}
 \int_0^{\tau_\epsilon^+(\sigma_\Lambda)} d\tau
 \left(\sigma - \coth \sigma\right)
 \Big|_{\sigma_\epsilon^+(\tau)}^{\sigma_\Lambda} \label{S_bulk^+},
\end{equation}
with $\tau_{\epsilon}^+(\sigma)$ and $\sigma_\epsilon^+(\tau)$ being
determined by \eqref{C+}.
The boundary contribution is
\begin{align}
 S_{boundary}^+ =
 &
 \frac{R^2}{\pi \alpha'}
 \Big[
  \int_0^{\tau_\epsilon^+ (\sigma_\Lambda)} d \tau
 \Big(
  - \coth \sigma_\epsilon^+(\tau)
  + \frac{
    \sinh \sigma_\epsilon^+(\tau) \cosh \tau
    }{
    \cosh \sigma_\epsilon^+(\tau) \cosh \tau + \alpha
    }
 \Big) \notag \\
 &
 -\int_{\sigma_\epsilon^+(0)}^{\sigma_\Lambda} d \sigma
 \Big(
 \frac{
 \cosh \sigma \sinh \tau_\epsilon^+(\sigma)
 }{
 \cosh \sigma \cosh \tau_\epsilon^+(\sigma) + \alpha
 }
 \Big)
 \Big]. \label{S_boundary^+}
\end{align}
The first term, $-\coth \sigma_\epsilon^+(\tau)$,
in the $\tau$-integral cancels the same but opposite term
in \eqref{S_bulk^+} as before, and the remaining
$\tau$-integral gives $R^2/\pi \alpha'$.
The $\sigma$-integral in the second line of \eqref{S_boundary^+}
 can be rewritten as
\begin{equation}
 \frac{R^2}{\pi \alpha'}
  \Big[
- \frac{\epsilon }{ \ell}
  \Big[
  \sigma \coth \sigma \sinh \tau_\epsilon^+(\sigma)
  \Big]_{\sigma_\epsilon^+(0)}^{\sigma_\Lambda}
 + \frac{\epsilon }{ \ell}
  \int_{\sigma_\epsilon^+(0)}^{\sigma_\Lambda} d \sigma \, \sigma
  \frac{d }{ d \sigma}
  \left(
    \coth \sigma \sinh \tau_\epsilon^+ (\sigma)
  \right)
  \Big],
\end{equation}
of which
the first term gives $-( R^2/\pi \alpha' )\sigma_\Lambda $ and the second term
goes to zero in the limit $\epsilon \to 0$.
Thus the final result is
\begin{equation}
 \Big[S_{bulk}^+ + S_{boundary}^+ \Big]_{\alpha<1}
  =
 J \log \frac{2\ell }{ \epsilon} - J
 -
 \frac{R^2 }{ \pi \alpha'}
 \int_0^{\tau_\epsilon^+ (\sigma_\Lambda)} d \tau \, \sigma_\epsilon^+(\tau).
 \label{S_bulk^++S_boundary^+}
\end{equation}
Adding the contribution from the other patch,
we reproduce the same result as in our first regularization scheme,
except for the last term; we will later estimate the sum of the last term
in \eqref{S_bulk^++S_boundary^+} and the
similar one from the ($-$)-patch to be a $J$-independent
 finite constant.

Next we turn to the case $\alpha = 1$. In contrast to the
case $\alpha<1$,
the second cutoff in \eqref{cutoff} plays an important role.
Only the evaluation of the ($-$)-patch needs modification.
The bulk and the boundary contributions are
\begin{align}
 S_{bulk}^-
 & =
 \frac{R^2}{\pi \alpha'}
 \Big[
 \int_0^{\tau_\ast} d \tau
 \left(  \sigma - \coth \sigma \right)
 \Big|_{\sigma_L^-(\tau)}^{\sigma_\Lambda}
 +
 \int_{\tau_\ast}^{\tau_\epsilon^-(\sigma_\Lambda)} d\tau
 \left( \sigma - \coth \sigma \right)
 \Big|_{\sigma_\epsilon^-(\tau)}^{\sigma_\Lambda}
 \Big],
 \label{S_bulk^-} \\[2mm]
 S_{boundary}^-
 &
 =
 \frac{R^2 }{ \pi \alpha'}
 \Big[
 \int_{C_L^-}
 \Big(
 d \tau
 {u' \over u}
 -
 d \sigma
 {\dot u \over u}
 \Big)
 +
 \int_{C_\epsilon^-}
 \Big(
 d \tau
 {u' \over u}
 -
 d \sigma
 {\dot u \over u}
 \Big)
 \Big]. \label{S_boundary^-}
\end{align}
Here, $\tau_\epsilon^-(\sigma)$ and $\sigma_\epsilon^-(\tau)$ are
determined by the first equation in \eqref{C-}
and $\sigma_L^-(\tau)$ is determined
by the second equation in \eqref{C-}.
The point $(\tau_\ast,\sigma_\ast) $ is where two contours
$C_\epsilon^-$ and $C_L^-$ with $\tau>0$ meet each other,
as explained in
Fig. \ref{cutoff-}, and defines the end-point of the boundary
integrals in \eqref{S_boundary^-}.
A little inspection shows that the difference from the case $\alpha<1$
 arises only from the $\tau$-integral along the curve $C_L^-$ in
 \eqref{S_boundary^-}, which is
rewritten as
\begin{align}
 \frac{R^2 }{ \pi \alpha'}
 \Big[
 \int_0^{\tau_\ast} d \tau
 \big(
 - \coth \sigma_L^-(\tau)
 \big)
 +
 \frac{1}{\ell}
 \int_0^{\sinh \tau_\ast} d x
 \frac{1 }{ x}
 \sqrt{
 -(L^2+\ell^2) x^2 + 2 L \ell \sqrt{1 + x^2} x
 }\;
 \Big].
\end{align}
Here in the second term,
we have used the second equation of \eqref{C-} and changed the variable
according to $x = \sinh \tau$.
The first term again cancels the corresponding term in
\eqref{S_bulk^-}, and the second term can be evaluated in the limit
$L \to \infty$ and $\epsilon \to 0$ to give $R^2 / \alpha'$.
Summing all the contributions, we obtain
\begin{equation}
 \Big[S_{bulk}^- + S_{boundary}^-\Big]_{\alpha=1}
  =
 J \log \frac{2 \ell }{ \epsilon} - J
  +
  \frac{R^2 }{ \alpha'}
  -
  \frac{R^2 }{ \pi \alpha'}
  \int_0^{\tau_{\epsilon}^- (\sigma_\Lambda)}
  d \tau \sigma_\epsilon^- (\tau).
  \label{S_bulk^-+S_boundary^-}
\end{equation}
Adding the result for the other patch which is equal to
\eqref{S_bulk^++S_boundary^+},
we reproduce the same form
as in the previous prescription, again
up to the last term. In particular, we have reproduced the special
finite contribution $R^2/\alpha'$ as before.
In the limit $\epsilon \to 0$,
remaining $\tau$-integrals in \eqref{S_bulk^++S_boundary^+} and
\eqref{S_bulk^-+S_boundary^-}, whose expressions are valid for any
$\alpha$, can be combined into the following form, apart from the prefactor $R^2/\pi\alpha'$,
\[
- \lim_{\epsilon\rightarrow 0} \,
\int_0^{{\rm arc cosh} {{\ell\over \epsilon}} }
  d \tau
  \log
  \left(
   \frac{\ell + \epsilon \cosh \tau }{ \ell - \epsilon \cosh \tau}
  \right),
\]
which dose not depend on $\alpha$.
By expanding the integrand with respect to $\epsilon$ and
performing the $\tau$-integral order by order,
this is evaluated to be $-\pi^2/4$.

\section{Conclusion}

To summarize,
 both the behaviors  with respect to $\ell$ and to $\alpha$ do not
depend on regularizations as expected. However, the
finite term which is independent of these scale parameters and of $J$
actually depends on regularizations.  We can
conclude that the finite normalization factor, though it depends on the
coupling constant, cannot be regarded to be universal.
This is not at all strange, but
it is desirable to find interpretation for this part from the side of the
Yang-Mills theory. That would require understanding the
nature of  nonperturbative
contributions other than those in simple ladder-type approximations.
It would also be worthwhile to consider possibility of
various Ward-like identities
for the purpose of eliminating ambiguities of regularization.

Our computations in this note have treated only a particular
case of Wilson loops with the insertions
of local scalar operators. Extension to more general spin-chain
type operators  would be an interesting exercise as in \cite{tsuji}.
Extension to the case with the insertions of three or more
local operators must also be a next important problem. Our
string configurations
work for sufficiently large R-charge. The case with small but
nonzero R-charge must perhaps be treated by string configurations
of different types, in which the density of R-charge angular
momentum becomes more diffuse as we go inside the string
world sheet, and hence appropriate solutions for such situation
should have more complicated time dependence.
It would also be interesting to study whether we can extend the
present analysis to cases with insertions
of operators without R-charge, such as field
strengths and higher covariant derivatives.

\vspace{0.2cm}
\noindent
Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Y. Mitsuka, A. Tsuji and especially Y. Kazama
for discussions related to the present subject.
The work of A. M. is supported in part by JSPS Research Fellowships for Young Scientists.
The work of T. Y. is supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 13135205 (Priority Areas) and No. 16340067 (B))  from the Ministry of  Education, Science and Culture, and also by Japan-US Bilateral Joint Research Projects  from JSPS.

\small

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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Here's the final photogallery from FISE Edmonton! BMX Park Finals! Hit the link below to check out the full PHOTOGALLERY by Chase Davidson giving you a look at all of the flips, whips, barspins and more that went down, along with the final results! Check it!
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Under the communist regime, there were shortages of everything in Poland. At times, it would get so bad that certain stores would have nothing but vinegar in stock. Nevertheless Poland under communist rule had something that is practically non-existent in contemporary, democratic Poland – mass-produced domestic cars.
There were two main reasons why communist Poland could mass-produce cars. Central planning is the first. If the central government decided that a particular product needed to be manufactured, it would be manufactured regardless of economic rationale. Therefore, opening a state-owned car factory was relatively easy, as it essentially required only an arbitrary decision from the leadership. It's worth noting, however, that nearly all of communist Poland's car brands active at the time of the political turn of 1989 didn't survive in the post-1989 free-market environment of democratic Poland, where production generally has to be profitable. The Honker brand may be considered one of the few exceptions, as its roots reach back to before 1989 and it still exists today. Honkers are, however, produced chiefly for the emergency services and the armed forces.
The second reason was the isolated market of communist Poland. There was a very limited choice of products under communist rule, and the cars that were available were mostly Polish. If you wanted to drive a car in communist Poland, you often had no other choice but to drive a domestic one. This guaranteed a steady demand for Polish-produced automobiles. Once Poland became a free-market economy and the choice of cars grew, this demand diminished dramatically. Nevertheless, some of the vehicles produced under communist rule are now retro classics, the sight of which brings joy to the hearts of many car-conscious Poles. Below you can find a list of 8 cars produced in communist Poland, which can now be considered sentimentally appealing.
The first car mass-produced in Poland after World War II. This curvy vehicle was manufactured by FSO from 1951 to 1973 in Warsaw and was named after the city. A number of versions of the Warszawa were created to accommodate the diverse needs of the nation. This car took on the forms of, amongst others, a station wagon, a pickup, an ambulance and a draisine.
In 1953 the Central Committee of the Polish Communist Party created a resolution which contained the following words: "A popular means of transport has to be created which will save time during business and leisure and will be meant for rationalizers, shock workers, activists, scientists and leading representatives of the intelligentsia". This resolution led to the Syrena, a small two-door sedan, being put into production in 1957. This car was manufactured until 1983.
This light commercial vehicle was produced at a factory in the town of Nysa which, before making cars, manufactured beds and safes, amongst other things. The Nysa used the same chassis as the Warszawa and was produced for over 35 years. In the seventies, a large portion of the car's production was meant for export to markets such as West Germany, China, and Spain.
A Polish car produced under licence from the Italian company Fiat. FSO started producing the Polski Fiat 125p in 1967 and manufactured it, under different names, until 1991. The changes of the name were a result of Fiat withdrawing the licence for this car in 1983. The Polski Fiat 125p was a state-of-the-art vehicle in the second half of the sixties and was to substitute the Warszawa, which by that time was an obsolete design.
Another Polish car produced under licence from the aforementioned Italian firm. The Polski Fiat 126p was manufactured from 1973 to 2000 by FSM. This immensely popular car was a characteristic sight on Polish roads for many years. In total, 3.3 million units of this vehicle were produced, 2.4 million of which were for the Polish market. In 2000, the popular Polish band Big Cyc released an album which includes Mały fiat, an energetic song about this car.
"A truck that's both fun and serious! The cab has enough room for three people, behind the partition, on the bed you can transport sacks of potatoes. On Sundays, you just have to adjust the movable partition and clean up the vehicle and the truck will be ready to take a six-person family to church". This is how the Tarpan, an agricultural vehicle, was once advertised. This truck was produced from 1972 to 1994.
The name for this car was chosen in a readers' vote conducted by the now-defunct newspaper Życie Warszawy. Over a million units were produced by FSO from 1978 until 2002, when manufacturing of the Polonez came to an end. In the beginning of the eighties a coupé version of this car appeared and was produced in small numbers. Nowadays, the Polonez Coupé is a great and much sought-after rarity.
To some, the most beautiful Polish car ever made. This sports car was a prototype designed by FSO engineers in 1957 to 1960. Sadly, the communist authorities of the time didn't appreciate the Syrena Sport as this vehicle's style didn't correspond to their ideology, in which there was no room for flashy cars. Because of this, the Syrena Sport was never put into production. As if that wasn't enough, the only specimen of this car was destroyed in the seventies.


Alan Shipman, editor of FinanceWeek.co.uk: Forecasts of an equity market recovery in this final quarter, as bank sector worries rule out any further interest rate rises, will further ease the immediate funding worries of occupational pension schemes. But there is no release, so far, from the underlying problem affecting UK occupational schemes. Transfers from the working population to the retired population are being replaced by funds set aside by working people for their own retirement. One unlucky cohort – currently in work – ends up footing its own pension bill and the group before.
This double charge applies whether pensions are provided publicly or privately. The pay-as-you-go state pension scheme funds today's retirees out of taxes and NI contributions from today's employees. But occupational and private pensions, linked to bond and equity investment, similarly draw on profits and taxes generated by those still working to finance retirement spending. The inter-generational transfer may be achieved more efficiently through financial markets than through the tax and benefits system – which is the logic of pension privatisation – but it must still take place. So the problem remains of one group of staff paying twice.
Britain and America have chosen to tackle the problem by replacing an inter-generational transfer with an inter-regional one. The idea is to get the fast-growing emerging economies, with young populations, to finance retirement income in slower-growing industrial economies with ageing populations. Western governments can't tax the high-saving workforces of east and south Asia and Latin America, unless they invite economic migration on an unprecedented scale. But they can encourage capital inflow from these regions, which lift returns on the stock and bond markets. That increases the return on domestic employees' current pension-fund investments, and, with luck, yield enough to top up their seniors' retirement income as well as their own.
It's a high-risk gamble, especially as emerging markets' have their own ageing populations that are already dragging down their savings rate, at a pace that could quicken if their national income growth slows down (as a result of stagnation in the US and Europe). But the alternative – of governments borrowing more to spread the double burden over future generations – is equally unappealing to Western governments. And if the US and UK can (as at present) attract capital inflows from higher-growth economies at comparatively low rates of interest and return on equity, they would be foolish not to do so. Especially with the prospect, created by US deficit spending, of fuelling an upturn in global inflation so that borrowed funds can be repaid in devalued Western currencies.
Inter-generational conflicts over money run both ways. Younger people wonder why they might be taxed to pay their parents' pensions as well as setting money aside for their own, after paying for a post-school education that their parents (if they qualified for it) probably received grants for. They're also puzzled as to why they were asked to pay more of the national income as tax, to pay down national debt (including the bit their forebears built up over two World Wars), at a moment when the double pension burden made a case for letting that debt rise.
At the same time, their parents wonder why they are increasingly required to follow-up the pocket money with contributions to private school fees, university fees and first-time house purchases – none of which they're likely to have received from their own parents – and why a health service and state pension scheme to which most of them contributed all their lives won't publicly fund the extra care they may need towards the end of their lives. Those currently working are perturbed that their employer may be able to invest less because of the hole that's opened up in its pension funding for former employees, especially when it's for final-salary linked benefits to which future access is denied. Those now retired are equally upset that their main reward, for the achievement of living longer, may be to decumulate their hard-earned housing equity and other savings before anyone else steps in to help.
And as these tensions build, scheme trustees are gaining increasing legal scope to fight the pensioners' corner, against the finance teams seeking other uses for company resources and against any acquirers who might be tempted to neglect the pension commitment. As well as interceding between different departments on the assignment of cash flows over space, finance directors must now mediate between different generations on the assignment of cash flows over time. We're not yet dealing with never-ending lives, but it must sometimes feel like a never-ending task.


Brandon Mindel was the Cat in the Hat for CSOPA's production of Seussical the Musical in December.
A family that plays together stays together. For the Mindel family, truer words were never spoken. They are fully engaged as a family, especially when it comes to their involvement in the world of theatre.
From the time that Brandon Mindel was just a little tyke, you could tell that he was a special child. "He had a sassy spirit," said his obviously proud mother, Lisa. He was evidently not shy and was filled with great humour; a real jokester to be sure. Lisa was quick to add, "His humour and his sense of humour come from his father. When he was a little guy, he loved to dress up and every pose was so natural. Even then you could pinpoint that one day he'd be in theatre." He credits his kindergarten and grade one teacher, Mrs. Gemma Gillis, with encouraging his dynamic and artistic abilities. "I had Mrs. Gillis during my formative years and she was just the best," he said with admiration.
During the winter of 2005, when Brandon was thirteen, he was invited by a friend to the Chilliwack School of Performing Arts' (CSOPA) 'bring a friend night.' They hung out and played theatre games. By the spring of 2006, Brandon had signed up for theatre courses. He was hooked. "I have always wanted to be a stand-up comic. That is my long term goal. I enjoy making people laugh. I want people to be happy," he said convincingly. Brandon also enjoys the thought of working on a television show. He enjoys the idea of having a plot change every week. "For me, in Chilliwack, musical theatre is the closest thing to what I'm interested in," he said.
From then on, his resume reads like one of a well seasoned actor, having starred in at least fifteen on-stage presentations. "I was LeFou in Beauty and the Beast, Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka and most recently the Cat in the Hat in Seussical: The Musical," he listed. He's also taken extensive classes and workshops through CSOPA, in addition to studying voice for four years.
Brandon's appreciation of music and movies is quite eclectic. He'll go from watching silent movies one moment to documentaries the next. "It's all an art form and I enjoy it all," he admitted.
Currently, Brandon is enrolled at the University of the Fraser Valley's two year theatre diploma program. He has also signed on with an agent and with his undeniable talent, drive, determination, dependability, artistic ability, a mature and articulate manner and an absolute passion for acting; it'll inevitably lead to a part in a movie or television show in the very near future.
Once he graduates from UFV, his plan is to move to Vancouver to attend the Vancouver Theatre Sports League, an internationally renowned comedy improv school. After that, he intends to move to Chicago to attend the Second City Training Centre, the largest school of improvisation and sketch comedy in the world. "Mike Myers and all of the Canadian comedians attended there and that's how they were picked to be on Saturday Night Light," he said in a resolved manner.
In as much as Brandon possesses a talent for acting, he's also very real. He doesn't go through life in character. His family keeps him grounded; something that he's thankful for. He's also appreciative for their support and dedication. "My dad has never missed any of my performances. Not many parents do that." They buy their tickets, almost as soon as they go on sale, and they sit front and center. Kevin becomes the professional clapper while Lisa has assumed the cheering role.
Brandon has also seen recent affirmation of his skill. He took a gold medal in 2009 at the Lions Music Festival, two gold medals and the musical theatre comedy trophy at the Festival's 2010 awards presentation and most recently MVP honours after the Seussical: The Musical presentation.
"The dedication and devotion that Brandon has given to his craft and CSOPA has kept him on the straight and narrow. He's been absolutely amazing through his adolescent changes because he desires something for his life. The work ethic and dedication that these kids show is nothing short of phenomenal," said Lisa.


text:
Effective Altruism Forum
Does EA understand how to apologize for things?
by titotal3 min read15th Jan 202348 comments
Bostrom apologyDiversity and inclusionCriticism of effective altruism cultureCriticism of effective altruist organizationsNick BostromCommunity
In response to the drama over Bostroms apology for an old email, the original email has been universally condemned from all sides. But I've also seen some confusion over why people dislike the apology itself. After all, nothing in the apology was technically inaccurate, right? What part of it do we disagree with?
Well, I object to it because it was an apology. And when you grade an apology, you don't grade it on the factual accuracy of the scientific claims contained within, you grade it on how good it is at being an apology. And to be frank, this was probably one of the worst apologies I have ever seen in my life, although it has since been topped by Tegmark's awful non-apology for the far right newspaper affair.
Okay, let's go over the rules for an apology to be genuine and sincere. I'll take them from here.
Acknowledge the offense.
Explain what happened.
Express remorse.
Offer to make amends.
Notably missing from this list is step 5: Go off on an unrelated tangent about eugenics.
Imagine if I called someone's mother overweight in a vulgar manner. When they get upset, I compose a long apology email where I apologize for the language, but then note that I believe it is factually true their mother has a BMI substantially above average, as does their sister, father, and wife. Whether or not those claims are factually true doesn't actually matter, because bringing them up at all is unnecessary and further upsets the person I just hurt.
In Bostroms email of 9 paragraphs, he spends 2 talking about the historical context of the email, 1 talking about why he decided to release it, 1 actually apologizing, and the remaining 5 paragraphs giving an overview of his current views on race, intelligence, genetics, and eugenics.
What this betrays is an extreme lack of empathy for the people he is meant to be apologizing to. Imagine if he was reading this apology out loud to the average black person, and think about how uncomfortable they would feel by the time he got to part discussing his papers about the ethics of genetic enhancement.
Bostroms original racist email did not mention racial genetic differences or eugenics. They should not have been brought up in the apology either. As a direct result of him bringing the subject up, this forum and others throughout the internet have been filled with race science debate, an outcome that I believe is very harmful. Discussions of racial differences are divisive, bad PR, probably result in the spread of harmful beliefs, and are completely irrelevant to top EA causes. If Bostrom didn't anticipate that this outcome would result from bringing the subject up, then he was being hopelessly naive.
On the other hand, Bostroms apology looks absolutely saintly next to the FLI's/Max Tegmarks non-apology for the initial approval of grant money to a far-right newspaper (the funding offer was later rescinded). At no point does he offer any understanding at all as to why people might be concerned about approving, even temporarily, funding for a far-right newspaper that promotes holocaust denial, covid vaccine conspiracy theories, and defending "ethnic rights".
I don't even know what to say about this statement. The FLI has managed to fail at point 1 of an apology: understanding that they did something wrong. I hope they manage to release a real apology soon, and when they do, maybe they can learn some lessons from previous failures.
Edit: the FLI have since further revised their statement, acknowledging that the newspaper was nazi in nature and expressing regret for the initial funding decision. They're still leaving up the misleading statement on government funding (which was ideology independent), and the overall tone still seems to lack understanding of why people are so shocked that they came anywhere close to working with a full on pro-nazi org. However, I think this at least upgrades their statement from a non-apology to a bad apology, which is a step in the right direction at least. Hopefully they'll get there eventually.
Second edit: The FLI have released a formal statement, which is a further big improvement. In particular they stopped denying Nya Bagdlets neo-nazi opinions and gave a more in depth explanation of what happened. I still think it was a very major mistake and people are right to be concerned about it, but it's at least reassuring that there don't appear to be nazi sympathisers within the FLI ranks, and that they are doing something to address their mistake.
Bostrom apology5Diversity and inclusion2Criticism of effective altruism culture2Criticism of effective altruist organizations2Nick Bostrom1Community2
48 comments, sorted by
[-]Chris Leong13d
I think these are great principles for apologies in the context of personal relationships, however, I do wonder how we would have to adapt them for a public context. For start, making amends works well for an individual who is in a position to accept or reject your offer and much less well in a public context where it can easily end up being seen as a cynical PR move. And indeed, it is especially likely to be seen as a cynical PR move if it is in fact a cynical PR move, which it would be if the person was to write something that didn't represent their true views. So while I definitely think these apologies could have been improved, I think that the situation is more complex than you give it credit for.
[-]Aptdell13d
Maybe part of the problem here is that social media demands fast apologies. There could be a speed/quality tradeoff for apologies.
titotal writes:
The FLI has managed to fail at point 1 of an apology: understanding that they did something wrong.
Understanding that you did something wrong is not always an easy thing. Suppose, for the sake of discussion, that Max Tegmark is, in fact, partway down some sort of far-right pipeline. [EDIT: With the recent FAQ release, such speculation now seems unwarranted. I'm leaving the rest of this comment as it was, but please don't assume I endorse it.] It seems unlikely that a few angry EA Forum comments are going to pull him out of whatever is going on. If you've ever argued politics with people online, you know they don't budge easily.
Demanding fast apologies could cause people to optimize for the appearance of remorse, instead of taking the time to look for genuine remorse within themselves, then express what they find.
If I was an FLI board member, I might do something like:
Make an announcement that Tegmark and others involved in the Nya Dagbladet grant are on leave pending an investigation. This sends a signal on social media that the org is responsive to the concerns people have, and hopefully reduces the pressure to produce another statement quickly. It might be best to have the investigation conducted by a 3rd party, so outsiders get a credible view on what happened.
Get Tegmark & others to do an "apology steelman" exercise, spending time talking to people who are predicted to have the highest chance of persuading him that the existing statement is inadequate -- including a mix of relevant domain experts and EAs. Pay those people for their time. Make conditions as favorable as possible for a genuine change of heart: communicate face-to-face (or at least via video call), spend the first 15 minutes of every conversation finding common ground through casual chitchat, maybe pull in a 3rd party mediator, probably get people involved to sign NDAs so he doesn't feel the need to be in "PR mode", etc. (There's likely literature on political persuasion to consult here.)
If a change of heart occurs, Tegmark can release a second statement. He could get feedback on the draft from people involved in the steelman exercise (and people dissatisfied with the existing statement more generally). It could be that he's able to satisfy most everyone without compromising his epistemic integrity.
In a previous comment, I mentioned that far-right ideas have created enormous suffering over the past few centuries. As an exercise, let's consider "preventing harms from far-right ideology" as an EA cause. Some facts:
Betting markets say Donald Trump has a 14.2% chance of being US President in 2024, despite public knowledge of him hanging out with far-right thought leaders.
Newsweek says 40% of Americans still believe the 2020 election was stolen, despite heavy censorship of this claim on social media.
There's been a lot of noise about Donald Trump over the past few years, and a lot of people have "Trump fatigue". "Trump fatigue" might cause people to neglect that the US is actually in a very bad situation. It seems very reasonable to estimate a >10% chance the US is a far-right dictatorship within 5-10 years. If this happens, it will be a far-right dictatorship with an incredibly powerful military and intelligence apparatus, likely including all the tech company data that privacy advocates have been nagging us about.
Given the numbers above, "preventing people from adopting far-right ideology" (as I discussed in this comment) seems like a weak intervention for the "preventing harms from far-right ideology" cause area. The facts suggest there already are millions of Americans who've adopted far-right ideology, and existing measures haven't exactly caused them to go away. Deconversion seems like a better intervention than prevention at this point.
Point being, if Tegmark really is partway down a far-right pipeline, it may be worth investing effort in deconverting him as a case study. [EDIT: This speculation now seems unwarranted given recent statements from FLI]
[-]𝕮𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖆13d
Eugenics was not an unrelated tangent.
Bostrom has been accused of being a eugenicist, and Bostrom has defended views that could be characterised as eugenics.
Probably the people trying to cancel him would have attempted to cancel him for eugenics.
It was very much in topic.
[-]Guy Raveh13d
This strengthens OP's point: this is not an apology at all, it's an attempted (and failed) defense.
[-]peterhartree13d
When someone's actions are criticised, they are often criticised for several different things. They may wish to apologise for some of these things, while explaining and defending others.
[-]titotal12d
It appears that Bostrom was trying to make his document both an apology and a defense, ended up making it mostly the latter, and ultimately failed at both tasks.
It reads like he was getting pre-emptively angry at the twitter threads that would misrepresent him. And yes, twitter mobs can occasionally be quite awful and unreasonable, but that is not the majority of people that are going to read this apology, and not the majority of people affected by his words.
This greatly undermined his apology, for the reasons I outlined in my post, but it also undermined his defense, because he had no examples of unreasonableness to point to at that point, and the bad apology makes him look like a jerk.
For future reference of people who are apologising: You should prioritise a kind and empathetic response first, and deal with whatever twitter comes up with later. The first thing will give you credibility when dealing with the second thing (and more importantly, it's the right thing to do.) And for the record, it is, in fact, possible to be kind and empathetic without lying or misrepresenting your own views.
[-]Matt Goodman13d
I really can't express clearly how badly I think of FLI's non-apology.
Why on earth would they think a neo-nazi publication would ever be a good thing to fund?
The Future of Life Institute makes no apologies for engaging with many people across the immensely diverse political spectrum, because our mission is so important that it needs broad support from all sectors of society
Why on earth would they put this in their response, rather than condemning neo-nazism?
@Tegmark
...rather than condemning neo-nazism?
There was this section:
And in this effort, the Future of Life Institute stands and will always stand emphatically against racism, bigotry, bias, injustice and discrimination at all times and in all forms. They are antithetical to our mission to safeguard the future of life and to advance human flourishing.
....which makes no mention of the neo-nazi views of Nya Dagbladet, and does not condemn them. That section reads to me as almost an afterthought to their response, which is a rant about how Expo.se is unfairly criticising FLI, and how Nya Dagbladet is not neo-nazi.
Here's that quote in context:
We will continue to engage the broadest sample of humankind, whether or not we are criticized by anyone who questions our motives, or who may have their own agendas. And in this effort, the Future of Life Institute stands and will always stand emphatically against racism, bigotry, bias, injustice and discrimination at all times and in all forms.
This is very vague and makes no mention of Nya Dagbladet! In fact, when read immediately after the sentence before it, it could appear to be a kind of hit back at Expo.se's criticism of FLI in a 'those damn intolerant liberal bigots' kind of way.
This is why I take issue with FLI talking about engaging 'across the immensely diverse political spectrum' and standing again 'discrimination at all times and in all forms' - it's ok to discriminate against neo-nazis! In fact, it's completely necessary, in order for a tolerant society to survive.
Platitudes like 'we stand against injustice and discrimination' do not cut it when your organisation has ben accused of offering funding to neo-nazis. FLI needs to explicitly condemn and disavow Nya Dagbladet and neo-nazi ideas.
It appears that a paragraph was added to the statement today:
Added Jan 16: Just to be absolutely unambiguous: FLI finds Nazi, neo-Nazi or pro-Nazi groups or ideologies despicable and would never knowingly support them. In case FLI's past work, its website and the lifetime work, writing, and talks by FLI leadership left any doubt about that, we included this final sentence in our statement above just to be 100% clear: "the Future of Life Institute stands and will always stand emphatically against racism, bigotry, bias, injustice and discrimination at all times and in all forms. They are antithetical to our mission to safeguard the future of life and to advance human flourishing." In terms of Nya Dagbladet, further investigation of them has only further validated our November decision to reject their proposal, and we regret that we did not understand their organization and history better sooner, so as to reject them earlier in the process. We will be improving our processes to reduce the risk of anything like this ever happening again.
For what it's worth, as someone who mentioned the possibility that Tegmark was "partway down some sort of far-right pipeline" elsewhere in this thread, I found the addition reassuring.
My personal best guess is now that FLI made an honest mistake, and we are reaching diminishing returns on litigating this further. My sense is that it is incredibly difficult to please everyone with this kind of statement. It doesn't seem like any of the recent statements by major EA organizations or figures have been well-received overall. I think devoting a lot of energy to dissecting public statements does not achieve much & is bad for the community's social capital, and we should be a bit more reluctant to publish dissections.
Others are free to disagree, of course.
[-]Jason12d
Thanks for pointing this out!
I think the "dissection" produced good results here -- it seems to have triggered a helpful revision that acknowledges a failure to adequately vet earlier in the process, which is much more reassuring than other possibilities the original statement left open. It also includes a promise to improve processes to mitigate the risk of this happening again. I'm not 100 percent happy with the revised version, but it is much better.
Also, as far as "social capital," comments from this forum are regularly reposted as evidence of what "EA thinks" of a given controversy. If an apology is insufficient and we are all silent, the inference that we think the apology sufficient will be drawn.
[-]Sharmake12d
And arguably rightly, IMO.
Thankyou for linking that. I'm glad FLI has issued that statement, and it reassures me somewhat. I'd still like to hear more detail of FLI's logic around this grant - why it was considered in the first place, what FLI's pipeline for considering grants is, at what stage Nya Dagblade was rejected, and why. (Hopefully the 'why' part is obvious, but it would be good to understand what information they received that changed their minds, that they didn't have in the first place).
Taking both parts of that paragraph seriously, I think the statement is best read as saying (1) we condemn neo-nazism but (2) we're okay with partnering with neo-nazis if it helps achieve our goals. I agree it would have been much better to specifically condemn neo-nazism by name, but I find the existence of (2) to be the most alarming part of the statement.
There's also a failure to reckon with how vile the material Nya Dagbladet has published is and instead legitimate it as an organization (e.g., look, they got $30K in public funding!).
[-]Matt Goodman7d
Update: FLI FAQ on the rejected grant proposal controversy.
Although I still think the original statement was not good, reading the FAQ and comments in the linked post have helped me have more empathy for the difficulties of releasing a PR when under public pressure to say something urgently.
I think my tone here was too confrontational and demanding, and I'm sorry if that caused additional stress for FLI.
Thankyou to FLI for updating both the initial statement, and putting out the FAQ, which clears things up.
[-]timunderwood13d
I am confused.
The bad thing would be if FLI funded them. FLI did not fund them due to things discovered due to due diligence. So FLI literally did nothing wrong, and literally has nothing to apologize for.
Unless we actually are saying that talking with 'bad people' is automatically bad and something you should apologize to all your right thinking friends for having contaminated them with proximity to badness afterwards .
Is there a principled argument that thinking about funding a group like that, and then changing your mind is bad?
Unless we actually are saying that talking with 'bad people' is automatically bad and something you should apologize to all your right thinking friends for having contaminated them with proximity to badness afterwards.
This is putting it very, very euphemistically, if you want to call 'offering $100,000 in funding to a neo-Nazi publication' ,'talking with bad people'.
Yes. Even if they thankfully never granted the money, the question remains - why was Nya Dagbladet ever anywhere near a shortlist of things that FLI would consider funding?
The fact remains that FLI has not disavowed Nya Dagbladet for their neo-nazi views. This is the most FLI gave as an explanation for them rescinding the offer of funding:
we ultimately decided to reject it because of what our subsequent due diligence uncovered
This is incredibly vague and could be talking about almost anything! Other parts of their non-apology seem to hint that they consider Nya Dagbladet's political views are acceptable, and ok to be engaging with. Again, this is taken from their apology:
The Future of Life Institute makes no apologies for engaging with many people across the immensely diverse political spectrum, because our mission is so important that it needs broad support from all sectors of society...
We will continue to engage the broadest sample of humankind, whether or not we are criticized by anyone who questions our motives, or who may have their own agendas.
I can't believe I'm writing this, but some political views should be roundly rejected and never considered acceptable when thinking about the future of humankind. Holocaust deniers should be top of that list, and FLI needs to say as such ASAP.
FLI "approved" the grant, as documented by a letter Expo published, and then walked back the approval. I don't see "thinking about funding" or "talking with 'bad people'" as accurate characterizations of what happened.
We also don't know if FLI walked the grant back because they learned more about the vile views expressed by the everyone associated with the foundation, or for some other reason. For instance, the Nya Dagbladet website contains advocacy for a political party that several dozen US lawmakers have called to be identified as a foreign terrorist group. Although supporting neo-nazis is constitutionally protected in the US and raises no legal concerns, few organizations want to be anywhere in the same ballpark as a potential foreign terrorist organization.
[-]burner13d
Could you (or someone else) actually make the case for "good apologies" (in the sense you outline in this post) that goes beyond PR concerns?
I understand the desire to know what Bostrom really thinks, but the attention on the structural quality of his apology seems completely undue. None of these elements would presumably reveal more about how Bostrom really thinks than his actual apology.
In fact, it seems like if our preference is to understand how Bostrom really feels, your "good apology" approach might take us further away from that! Your emphasis is on appearing "sincere and genuine" which again, fair enough for PR concerns, but presumably we are after some sort of larger reconciliation here that necessitates being honest and forthright?
If an apology was terribly written - but was in fact genuine and sincere - that seems preferable? If a good apology is just to "sell forgiveness", what could the point be beyond PR?
My apologies if I am missing something here, but you seem to be writing a guide for some kind of dishonesty? And if you mean it to be about true honesty, I think this scheme really fails.
What I am arguing for are principles of kindness, empathy, and decency.
When you engage in actions that hurt people, I think it is a good thing to address that hurt and make things right, and mitigate the damage as much as possible. I do not think Bostrom achieved this goal with his apology.
I do not oppose people stating beliefs that might be upsetting to some people, if such beliefs are relevant and important to a discussion at hand. However, when those beliefs are stated, they should be done so in an empathetic and sensitive manner, with the appropriate context in mind.
For example, if your friend has a problem with obesity, you should not address that by calling them a "fatso", even if said claim is arguably true. You should certainly not do so at their wedding. Instead you would take them aside at an opportune time and start something like "hey, I know you've been struggling lately, and I'm concerned about you".
The paragraphs on eugenics were not relevant to the apology. They should not have been brought up in that context, and the controversial topics were not treated with appropriate levels of sensitivity or kindness to the people he harmed. This is not dishonesty. This is human decency.
The problem with Bostrom's apology is that it made the argument worse rather than achieving (the presumed) goal of making the conversation around it as small as possible.
There were true things and true impressions he could have said and left that would have done that.
[-]David Mears12d
I guess that the motivation for OP was that people were referring to Bostrom's apology as evidence that he sincerely repented, and deserves to be welcomed back into the fold already; whereas in fact the apology provides scant evidence of sincere introspection and remorse, and so we should not treat him as redeemed, yet. OP describes the way the apology fails to provide this evidence, without which there's no cause for redeeming him yet.
Perhaps unlike OP, I don't want Bostrom to write a false apology by following those rules. Nor do I want a lazy or perfunctory apology to be accepted by the community. We should welcome Bostrom back into the fold on certain conditions, namely, that he is sincerely remorseful; and writing a dysfunctional apology doesn't get him closer to meeting that condition.
If we successfully coordinated to withhold our acceptance until he makes serious amends, we may in fact succeed in causing him to introspect and change more than he otherwise would. Or he might just lie about his remorse. But accepting a bad (or non-) apology throws away the possibility of Nick introspecting.
[-]SantaRKlaas12d
>>> the apology provides scant evidence of sincere introspection and remorse
He described his old email as "disgusting.... repulsive.... idiotic and offensive."
[+]timunderwood11d
[+]Guy Raveh13d
[-]Ives Parr13d
In response to the drama over Bostroms apology for an old email, the original email has been universally condemned from all sides.
I do not condemn Bostrom.
And if the content is so offensive as to be upsetting and harmful to the movement, it must also be harmful to continue posting and discussing its contents.
I think he discussed eugenics because he was preemptively addressing potential attacks that he suspected where coming.
[-]Erin11d
I think OP's point is that "preemptively addressing potential attacks" is not part of a good apology.
Well, I think Bostrom is doing damage control rather than feeling guilty, so I largely agree with that.
[-]Evan_Gaensbauer13d
Beyond any matter related to Nick Bostrom's recent apology, my two cents is that the answer is that, generally, no, most of the effective altruism community doesn't know how to apologize well.
I'd go so far as to say that most people do not know how to apologize well, especially outside of an interpersonal context. I actually thought the Bostrom apology was about average (which is say bad but not totally meaningless).
I tend to agree, though I answered the question this way because I've noticed a pattern much of the time during the last few years of actors in the EA community tending to apologize poorly much of the time.
I didn't have time to provide more examples when I wrote the comment, though I figure offering simple takes are okay to open-ended question posts like this anyway. It seems from how my comment has received that most people who've bothered checking this comment have in mind that kind of trend in EA I'm alluding to and, not only agree, but appreciate at least one person, like me, putting it plainly.
[-]projectionconfusion11d
There's a general lack of competence in (and at times active disdain for) skills in PR and communications in EA. Which for a movement that wants to convince people of things and attract membership seems problematic
WRT the broader theme of EAs and apologies, I'm waiting for Will MacAskill's apology or explanation regarding his statements to journalists supporting SBF's ascetic image.
[-]Nathan Young13d
I liked this, thank you. Also well written.
But I genuinely think that for many it's not clear why 5 is not part of a good apology. I think "imagine it is being spoken to a black person" is a great intuition pump.
[-]JoshuaBlake13d
In addition, if half of your paragraphs are discussing something that is irrelevant to the stated purpose of the piece of writing, at worst people will question if that's really why you're writing and at best will detract from effect you're trying to achieve.
[-]Very Effective13d
Thanks for posting this. Should be pinned.
My only objection here is the omission of the words "neo-Nazi". Which Nya Dagbladet undoubtedly are, despite Tegmark's claims to the contrary.
[-]ViktoriaMalyasova8d
I don't understand what you think FLI did wrong. Looks like their due diligence process worked as intended.
I also don't condemn Nick Bostrom's original email and don't see what's racist about it.
If someone calls me, personally, fat, I will see it as an insult in some contexts. But if someone made a true statement about the average BMI of people leaving in the US, it would be ridiculous for me to take it as an insult.
You call the lanuage used vulgar. I call it efficient. You can call someone "fat", or "overweight", or "having a BMI substantially above average". You can call someone "dumber", or "stupider", or "less intelligent", or "having a smaller IQ score". The number of letters increases, but the intended meaning stays the same. Once we make an euphemism for something society deems undesirable, negative connotations grow back over time, so we have to invent more and more elaborate euphemisms. It wouldn't do to be too rude, but we have to stop somewhere before the number of syllables gets out of hand. "Stupid" or "overweight" seem like reasonable compromises to me.
It is true that in some contexts true statements can be used to coordinate violence against a group of people, and it is reasonable to be concerned in these situations. But there are also contexts where people need to communicate clearly and efficiently, without adding a thousand disclaimers to every factual statement they make, because it's necessary to solve problems. You don't take offence if your doctor tells you you're overweight, or if a scientist writes a paper discussing possible causes of rising obesity rates. Writing by rationalists and EAs should be treated the same way. Given the track record of EA in general and Nick Bostrom in particular, and the explicit clarification in his letter that his statement should be understood literally and not as an expression of hatred towards Black people, it is crazy to assume that the statement was intended to coordinate some racial violence. EA community did a lot to help Black people.
EA and rationalist communities have always leaned towards decoupling norms in a conversation. Following decoupling norms means you must understand statements literally and avoid unwarranted inferences. If someone says X, and you believe that X implies Y, or you believe that the speaker believes that X implies Y, you are not allowed to just act like they said Y. You should first clarify.
Epistemic rigor of EA is valuable and unique. It is what distinguishes EA from other do-gooder organizations. I was, for example, a part of Russian opposition movement. It was outright taboo to discuss whether this or that tactic was effective (what if we looked into it and it turned out ineffective? It would be so discouraging to everyone!). I rarely saw anyone express less than complete confidence in our victory (surely making different predictions would just mean you were rooting for the other side). I've seen people try to organize a popular opposition movement while reassuring each other that they were NOT trying to gain power (surely only bad people could have goals like that...). You all saw the outcome of that endeavor.
This is why I am extremely disappointed and dismayed to see EA community violate its own social norms and surrender the unique value it brings to the world, just because some Twitter people are angry or something.
Agree wholeheartedly. Nick Bostrom's apology was very bad, and this is a big reason I'm starting to agree a lot more with his opposition, because of that problematic apology.
[-]Ofer13d
Imagine if I called someone's mother overweight in a vulgar manner. When they get upset, I compose a long apology email where I apologize for the language, but then note that I believe it is factually true their mother has a BMI substantially above average, as does their sister, father, and wife.
Strong downvote. Readers who have not read Bostrom's apology can get the false impression that the apology contains a note that is analogous to the above. It does not.

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text:
http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/120656/false_prophet_harold_camping_banked?fb_ref=post_bottom&fb_source=profile_oneline
http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/120656/false_prophet_harold_camping_banked
False Prophet Harold Camping Banked Millions on Doomsday Scam
Maressa Brown May 21, 2011 at 3:23 PM
Politics & Views
Doomsday "prophet" Harold Camping, founder of the Family Radio Network, is under fire today for his big, hilariously false prediction that today, May 21 would be the end of the world. Some people are annoyed, while others are chuckling about the prophecy. But a handful are outraged, and I don't blame 'em. They realize some innocent people were taken for a ride by a man who is now $80 million dollars richer, thanks to his apocalypse message.
In fact, Harold Camping's Wikipedia page was just recently defaced by web users who are obviously, and justifiably, angry about the apparent greed behind Camping's prediction. Around 11 a.m. EST today, the first sentence of Camping's bio read:
Harold Egbert Camping (born July 19, 1921) is a liar who says the world's going to end to make more money but is [sic] is a piece of crap.
Now, as of almost 3 p.m., it has been partially restored, but still refers to Camping as a "false prophet."
That much is certainly true.
But even if he actually did believe his own prediction (who knows -- but I doubt it), he couldn't have been clueless about the fact that he was running a profitable business based on a cockamamie work of fiction.
He raked in tons of dough from Family Radio followers between 2005-2009. Sure, you could argue that it's his followers own fault for falling for Camping's BS. I definitely agree with that to some extent. Some of his followers blew their money on luxury cars and vacations. Kinda dumb!
But on the other hand, it pains me to hear that some of his followers were so blinded by Camping's message that they gave everything they had to the man. New York local news reported that one men spent all of his savings to buy an ad campaign for the May 21 doomsday message. One teenager admitted that his parents stopped saving for his college education. Some of his followers even budgeted their money so they'd be left penniless today. All of this is shameful and at the very least, cringe-worthy.
Granted, the government kind of has bigger fish to fry, but instead of re-writing Camping's Wikipedia page to reflect what a scam artist he appears to be, I say someone who feels deceived by the Christian radio broadcaster-turned-false prophet should take the fearmonger to court!
Do you feel bad for people who went broke because of Harold Camping and Family Radio, or is it their own fault?
Image via Stefan Kloo/Flickr
religion in the news


Liu, Y.; Chen, G.Q.; Yang, X.; Deng, H. Preparation of Layer-by-Layer Nanofiltration Membranes by Dynamic Deposition and Crosslinking. Membranes 2019, 9, 20.
Liu Y, Chen GQ, Yang X, Deng H. Preparation of Layer-by-Layer Nanofiltration Membranes by Dynamic Deposition and Crosslinking. Membranes. 2019; 9(2):20.
Liu, Yan; Chen, George Q.; Yang, Xiuli; Deng, Huining. 2019. "Preparation of Layer-by-Layer Nanofiltration Membranes by Dynamic Deposition and Crosslinking." Membranes 9, no. 2: 20.


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'Free tuition': Illusion, not solution
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) | Apr 17, 2017 | Fresh Ink | 0
Attractive as it is for students and parents, "free" in-state tuition won't solve higher education's ever-higher costs at New York's public universities and community colleges — or at Pennsylvania's cash-strapped state-owned universities.
"Free tuition" isn't free. Somebody has to pay for it. New York's new program, costing an estimated $163 million extra in its first year, relies in part on tax hikes on incomes of $1 million-plus to aid families making up to $100,000 (eventually $125,000). Bernie Sanders' federal proposal relied on taxing financial transactions.
Like all higher-education subsidies, "free tuition" provides yet more cover for higher-education price hikes above inflation — but it's taxpayers, not students and parents, footing those ever-higher bills. And when, if ever, does this new entitlement's pain for taxpayers end?
New Yorkers' "free tuition" comes at another price — their freedom. If graduates don't stay in high-tax New York as long as the two or four years they were in school — and just imagine the headaches and costs of enforcing that ! — their "free tuition" becomes loans they have to repay. And because it creates more job-seeking grads but not more job openings, "free tuition," as Trib columnist Ralph R. Reiland says, is a "formula for … higher unemployment and underemployment, and lower income growth."
Simply put, "free tuition" merely shifts families' college costs to taxpayers while doing nothing about higher ed's runaway costs. It's an illusion — not a solution.
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