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The report itself is rather interesting: http://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf http://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf > After

The report itself is rather interesting: http://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf http://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf > After meeting Epstein in February 2013, Ito conducted what he described as “due diligence” into Epstein. Ito told us that he performed a Google search of Epstein and also spoke with certain individuals to learn more. According to Ito, the “influential” people with whom he spoke included Nicholas Negroponte, Media Lab co-founder and Professor Post-Tenure of Media Arts and Sciences; members of the Media Lab Advisory Council; tech billionaires, including a former LinkedIn senior executive and co-founder; and a well-known Harvard Law School professor. Ito also met other influential individuals at meetings with Epstein, including Woody Allen, a senior executive at the Hyatt Corporation, and a former prime minister of Israel. Ito explained that these meetings and discussions influenced his view of Epstein.

empath75 7y ago
> and a well-known Harvard Law School professor. almost certainly Alan Dershowitz, who is up to his eyeballs in epstein dirt.
- malvosenior 7y ago
  Yes, and the LinkedIn co-founder is obviously Reid Hoffman. Here's a series of Tweets from Aanand Giridharadas talking about discovering some of this information and how they reacted to it: https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1169947031806365696 https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1169947031806365696
  - bronson 7y ago
    That was a great and horrifying read. They're circling the wagons. > Why are the people not connected to Epstein leaving this orbit, while people connected to Epstein remain? > Shouldn't it be the other way around?
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - AndrewBissell 7y ago
    Reid Hoffman arranged a 2015 dinner where he invited Epstein, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk. Epstein would later tell a New York Times reporter that he knew intimate & embarrassing details of the sex lives of numerous tech luminaries. I'm sure it's all nothing though. Hoffman says he regrets it so he's in the clear. Even still has his podcast on NPR! https://www.thedailybeast.com/linkedin-founder-reid-hoffman-i-regret-inviting-jeffrey-epstein-to-2015-dinner https://www.thedailybeast.com/linkedin-founder-reid-hoffman-... https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-interview.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- deng 7y ago
  >> and a well-known Harvard Law School professor. > almost certainly Alan Dershowitz, who is up to his eyeballs in epstein dirt. My guess is Lawrence Lessig, since he himself wrote about this ("Our conversations then were about his diligence to determine whether Epstein remained an abuser"), see https://medium.com/@lessig/on-joi-and-mit-3cb422fe5ae7 https://medium.com/@lessig/on-joi-and-mit-3cb422fe5ae7
  - empath75 7y ago
    I stand corrected, I didn't realize how many famous harvard law professors he was associated with.
- dls2016 7y ago
  It was a PANTS ON massage!
- azernik 7y ago
  The the former Israeli Prime Minister probably being Barak; Israeli media has uncovered that Epstein gave him use of his NY apartment, and millions in investments.
ericb 7y ago
Makes one think twice about the value of social proof. Epstein was like a landing page with customer logos from LinkedIn, Microsoft, MIT, and Harvard.
- gumby 7y ago
  This is an excellent analogy.
- _jal 7y ago
  I think social proof is quite valuable, just not in a way that is positive for Ito, Dershowitz, Negroponte, etc. Social proof has usefully demonstrated exactly what they are.
- gumby 7y ago
  I replied "this is an excellent analogy" and it was voted down. On the assumption that I was too brief, I'll try again. From the early 40s through the early 90s MIT was essentially entirely (> 80%) funded by various organs of the US government (I used to read the budget when I was a student, and nowadays the development office sends me the budget). With the end of the Cold War that era came to an end. Interestingly Nicholas Negroponte was one of the few who really recognized this and he set up the media lab on a different structure.* MIT really struggled to make a transition, which it has only partially made progress on. And what I like about this analogy is that it is trading on someone else's judgement and reputation. The landing page and pitch deck that uses other peoples' logos (typically without permission which I think, in the pitch deck case at least, is just fine, as long as the usage is true). "Trust us! Our B2B solution is trusted by Coca-Cola, Airbus and Lyft!" A lot of schools name buildings and courses after people. One thing I liked about the old MIT is that they didn't really: Building 2 actually has a name but who really knows it? There were a few exceptions, but they were few. One element of the "new" MIT is that they essentially sell their own credibility ("Steven Schwartzman school of computing is merely the most notorious" and also try to trade it in reverse "Steven Schwarzmann may be a scumbag but he thought we were worth giving money to". Harvard (from its very name) Stanford, etc have all been in on this game for decades and centuries; MIT is just trying to catch up. * I have mixed feelings about his by that's an unrelated matter
krick 7y ago
> To the contrary, members of MIT’s Senior Team were wary of Epstein and nearly returned his May 2013 donation, the first donation of which they became aware I love the word "nearly" here. Just saying.
- hitekker 7y ago
  Yep, they're trying to save face.
- gumby 7y ago
  I love the institute but I agree they really need to think hard about how it runs. The past 30 years have been a continuous project in weaning the institute off being merely a very large government research lab.* IMHO this process has not been successful. * with a small school bolted onto the side: the educational side of the institute is only 16% of the budget and is run at a small loss. This might explain their interest in Epstein.
  - totalZero 7y ago
    The Institute doesn't deserve your love. It has a habit of not protecting young people in its own community. Now it's under fire for turning a blind eye to the abuse of young people by its donors. Let the Institute burn. It brought this upon itself.
    - gumby 7y ago
      I must agree that the institute (i.e. the faculty and staff) mostly consider students a nuisance unless they are interested in research. But I think it's been and continues to be a net positive for the planet. And if most students HTFP (or claim to) there's a solid group -- even a majority? -- who love it. I admit I was one of the lucky ones for whom it was an almost perfect environment. But even as an undergraduate I had no illusion that I was there to "attend school". I was there to learn AND do. I am really soory if it screwed you. I have friends who had that experience.
      - 7y ago
Jerry2 7y ago
Haven't seen this being discussed anywhere: >In addition to his own donations, Epstein claimed to have arranged for donations to MIT from other wealthy individuals. In 2014, Epstein claimed to have arranged for Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to provide an anonymous $2 million donation to the Media Lab. From the PDF linked above: http://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf http://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf
- malvosenior 7y ago
  Gates had close ties to Epstein: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-... In fact, Epstein left his entire estate to Boris Nikolic (guy on the far right on that NYT picture). Nikolic worked for Gates for many years. This is Gates emailing co-workers after visiting Epstein: > After the meeting, Epstein emailed friends and associates to boast, writing "Bill's great" in one email reviewed by The Times. In an email Gates sent to his own colleagues the next day, he wrote, "A very attractive Swedish woman and her daughter dropped by and I ended up staying there quite late." The revelations about Epstein directing the $2M Gates donation to MIT first came out in Ronan Farrow The New Yorker piece on Joi Ito and MIT. Gates has denied it but given all the facts it seems very believable that Epstein did have something to do with that donation.
  - adventured 7y ago
    > Gates had close ties to Epstein That's an extreme exaggeration that borders on character assassination - your linked article disagrees with your setup at every step (it notes repeatedly the limited nature of his interaction with Epstein). Gates met with Epstein a few times on the premise that he claimed he could raise billions of dollars for charitable causes Gates was associated with and otherwise did not have ties to him, did not do business with him or know him on a personal level.
AndrewBissell 7y ago
Ah yes, Woody Allen, the well-known judge of character when it comes to matters of child sexual abuse. The "former prime minister of Israel" was probably Ehud Barak, who solicited $1 million in seed money from Epstein for his startup Carbyne, received large political donations from Epstein's benefactor Les Wexner, and was a frequent guest at Epstein's NYC mansion.

empath75 7y ago

> and a well-known Harvard Law School professor. almost certainly Alan Dershowitz, who is up to his eyeballs in epstein dirt.

malvosenior 7y ago
Yes, and the LinkedIn co-founder is obviously Reid Hoffman. Here's a series of Tweets from Aanand Giridharadas talking about discovering some of this information and how they reacted to it: https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1169947031806365696 https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1169947031806365696
- bronson 7y ago
  That was a great and horrifying read. They're circling the wagons. > Why are the people not connected to Epstein leaving this orbit, while people connected to Epstein remain? > Shouldn't it be the other way around?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- AndrewBissell 7y ago
  Reid Hoffman arranged a 2015 dinner where he invited Epstein, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk. Epstein would later tell a New York Times reporter that he knew intimate & embarrassing details of the sex lives of numerous tech luminaries. I'm sure it's all nothing though. Hoffman says he regrets it so he's in the clear. Even still has his podcast on NPR! https://www.thedailybeast.com/linkedin-founder-reid-hoffman-i-regret-inviting-jeffrey-epstein-to-2015-dinner https://www.thedailybeast.com/linkedin-founder-reid-hoffman-... https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-interview.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
deng 7y ago
>> and a well-known Harvard Law School professor. > almost certainly Alan Dershowitz, who is up to his eyeballs in epstein dirt. My guess is Lawrence Lessig, since he himself wrote about this ("Our conversations then were about his diligence to determine whether Epstein remained an abuser"), see https://medium.com/@lessig/on-joi-and-mit-3cb422fe5ae7 https://medium.com/@lessig/on-joi-and-mit-3cb422fe5ae7
- empath75 7y ago
  I stand corrected, I didn't realize how many famous harvard law professors he was associated with.
dls2016 7y ago
It was a PANTS ON massage!
azernik 7y ago
The the former Israeli Prime Minister probably being Barak; Israeli media has uncovered that Epstein gave him use of his NY apartment, and millions in investments.

ericb 7y ago

Makes one think twice about the value of social proof. Epstein was like a landing page with customer logos from LinkedIn, Microsoft, MIT, and Harvard.

gumby 7y ago
This is an excellent analogy.
_jal 7y ago
I think social proof is quite valuable, just not in a way that is positive for Ito, Dershowitz, Negroponte, etc. Social proof has usefully demonstrated exactly what they are.
gumby 7y ago
I replied "this is an excellent analogy" and it was voted down. On the assumption that I was too brief, I'll try again. From the early 40s through the early 90s MIT was essentially entirely (> 80%) funded by various organs of the US government (I used to read the budget when I was a student, and nowadays the development office sends me the budget). With the end of the Cold War that era came to an end. Interestingly Nicholas Negroponte was one of the few who really recognized this and he set up the media lab on a different structure.* MIT really struggled to make a transition, which it has only partially made progress on. And what I like about this analogy is that it is trading on someone else's judgement and reputation. The landing page and pitch deck that uses other peoples' logos (typically without permission which I think, in the pitch deck case at least, is just fine, as long as the usage is true). "Trust us! Our B2B solution is trusted by Coca-Cola, Airbus and Lyft!" A lot of schools name buildings and courses after people. One thing I liked about the old MIT is that they didn't really: Building 2 actually has a name but who really knows it? There were a few exceptions, but they were few. One element of the "new" MIT is that they essentially sell their own credibility ("Steven Schwartzman school of computing is merely the most notorious" and also try to trade it in reverse "Steven Schwarzmann may be a scumbag but he thought we were worth giving money to". Harvard (from its very name) Stanford, etc have all been in on this game for decades and centuries; MIT is just trying to catch up. * I have mixed feelings about his by that's an unrelated matter

krick 7y ago

> To the contrary, members of MIT’s Senior Team were wary of Epstein and nearly returned his May 2013 donation, the first donation of which they became aware I love the word "nearly" here. Just saying.

hitekker 7y ago
Yep, they're trying to save face.
gumby 7y ago
I love the institute but I agree they really need to think hard about how it runs. The past 30 years have been a continuous project in weaning the institute off being merely a very large government research lab.* IMHO this process has not been successful. * with a small school bolted onto the side: the educational side of the institute is only 16% of the budget and is run at a small loss. This might explain their interest in Epstein.
- totalZero 7y ago
  The Institute doesn't deserve your love. It has a habit of not protecting young people in its own community. Now it's under fire for turning a blind eye to the abuse of young people by its donors. Let the Institute burn. It brought this upon itself.
  - gumby 7y ago
    I must agree that the institute (i.e. the faculty and staff) mostly consider students a nuisance unless they are interested in research. But I think it's been and continues to be a net positive for the planet. And if most students HTFP (or claim to) there's a solid group -- even a majority? -- who love it. I admit I was one of the lucky ones for whom it was an almost perfect environment. But even as an undergraduate I had no illusion that I was there to "attend school". I was there to learn AND do. I am really soory if it screwed you. I have friends who had that experience.
    - 7y ago

Jerry2 7y ago

Haven't seen this being discussed anywhere: >In addition to his own donations, Epstein claimed to have arranged for donations to MIT from other wealthy individuals. In 2014, Epstein claimed to have arranged for Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to provide an anonymous $2 million donation to the Media Lab. From the PDF linked above: http://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf http://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf

malvosenior 7y ago
Gates had close ties to Epstein: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-... In fact, Epstein left his entire estate to Boris Nikolic (guy on the far right on that NYT picture). Nikolic worked for Gates for many years. This is Gates emailing co-workers after visiting Epstein: > After the meeting, Epstein emailed friends and associates to boast, writing "Bill's great" in one email reviewed by The Times. In an email Gates sent to his own colleagues the next day, he wrote, "A very attractive Swedish woman and her daughter dropped by and I ended up staying there quite late." The revelations about Epstein directing the $2M Gates donation to MIT first came out in Ronan Farrow The New Yorker piece on Joi Ito and MIT. Gates has denied it but given all the facts it seems very believable that Epstein did have something to do with that donation.
- adventured 7y ago
  > Gates had close ties to Epstein That's an extreme exaggeration that borders on character assassination - your linked article disagrees with your setup at every step (it notes repeatedly the limited nature of his interaction with Epstein). Gates met with Epstein a few times on the premise that he claimed he could raise billions of dollars for charitable causes Gates was associated with and otherwise did not have ties to him, did not do business with him or know him on a personal level.

AndrewBissell 7y ago

Ah yes, Woody Allen, the well-known judge of character when it comes to matters of child sexual abuse. The "former prime minister of Israel" was probably Ehud Barak, who solicited $1 million in seed money from Epstein for his startup Carbyne, received large political donations from Epstein's benefactor Les Wexner, and was a frequent guest at Epstein's NYC mansion.