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Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

nytimes.com

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Re: Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

#101

Post by hjksadfkhjasdf »

nf8nnfufuu wrote: post #15
jakelazaroff wrote: post #3

Good. Here’s a particularly damning passage from Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker article [1]: > According to Swenson, Ito had informed Cohen that Epstein “never goes into any room without his two female ‘assistants,’ ” whom he wanted to bring to the meeting at the Media Lab. Swenson objected to this, too, and it was decided that the assistants would be allowed to accompany Epstein but would wait outside the meeting room. >…

Sorry, I don't get it. Somebody having assistants who look like models and are from Eastern Europe is suspicious of trafficking women? How? Why? I have heard about Epstein, obviously with hindsight all sorts of things he did can be seen in a new light. I just don't understand what is so damning about the passage above. Would somebody who is trafficking women really take them everywhere he goes? I thought it would be…

> Would somebody who is trafficking women really take them everywhere he goes? I thought it would be more of a secret affair.

After everything Epstein has did and got away with, I don't think it's a stretch that he would have been brash about it. Look at how brash Trump is about some of his personal sexual exploits.

I'm not sure the point is these women were trafficked for sure, but Ito was obviously unwilling to overlook a pretty questionable situation for his personal financial gain.

Regardless, he isn't being thrown in jail, he's just losing his position of power because he obviously isn't capable of avoiding conflict of interest.

Re: Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

#102

Post by breck »

SquishyPanda23 wrote: post #85
breck wrote: post #14

Those in glass houses... “They were models. Eastern European, definitely,” she told me. Among the lab’s staff, she said, “all of us women made it a point to be super nice to them. We literally had a conversation about how, on the off chance that they’re not there by choice, we could maybe help them.” And what did these people go home and start doing for Eastern European models since then? I find this pretty condescen…

The context here is that Epstein was a convicted sex offender who was widely believed to traffic women into sexual slavery, and sexual slavery is a serious problem in Eastern Europe [1]. The implication is the staff were concerned that Epstein was bringing literal slaves into the office. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_trafficking_in_Europe

Gotcha, I don't know the details of the allegations, and whether it was sex slavery or not. I was just giving another data point with a somewhat contrarian view. Thanks for sharing.

One nit about the OP, is when any press outlet reports this as a "suicide". At the very least, this should be reported as an "assisted suicide". My infant can't poop without us having video evidence. The odds of this being an individual act given where and who he was are maybe .1%? Only problem is so many people wanted him gone, hard to figure out who helped him.

Re: Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

#103

Post by rosser »

matz1 wrote: post #83
nemothekid wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you take the money you have to turn a blind eye to the child trafficking part.

I don't just assume where the money comes from.

There is precisely zero need for assumption here. The only way Epstein's behavior could have been more in the open is if he were advertising screenings of the "home movies" he made with these girls.

When you continue to associate with that guy, you're saying, "People who do that are okay with us." That's normalization. Especially when, say, your day job is as the head of a pretty damned prestigious institution like Joichi-san.

There is, in principle, no difference between this situation and all of the museums and whatever distancing themselves from the Sackler family and their opioid money. You don't get to white-wash killing tens of thousands of people for profit by having a new museum wing bear your name, just like you don't get to wash your hands of trafficking children for sex, just because you funded some AI research.

Re: Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

#104

Post by davrosthedalek »

goatinaboat wrote: post #81
input_sh wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.” That same future president being quoted in an article about Epstein in 2002.

Great! Now do the one about Bill Clinton taking 27 flights on the Lolita Express! Or the one about Trump banning Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in 2008 when he started to suspect...

You mean the one when Trump banned him from Mar-a-lago because Epstein pissed Trump off in a business dealing?

Re: Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

#105

Post by breck »

frostburg wrote: post #35
breck wrote: post #14

Those in glass houses... “They were models. Eastern European, definitely,” she told me. Among the lab’s staff, she said, “all of us women made it a point to be super nice to them. We literally had a conversation about how, on the off chance that they’re not there by choice, we could maybe help them.” And what did these people go home and start doing for Eastern European models since then? I find this pretty condescen…

The ones that you know weren't there with Epstein. Context.

It's a fair point. I wasn't in the room and never met Epstein. I just wanted to provide a counterargument, because I think people are quick to pile on.

Re: Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

#106

Post by breck »

liability wrote: post #93
khazhou wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN users are a varied bunch. There is no reason to not believe him.

That particular user is someone I distrust, based on past interactions (a habit of speaking with the "royal we" for instance.)

I'm sorry you distrust me, but I do my best to speak the truth as I see it. My name is Breck Yunits, I've been on this site for 12 years. You can find more about me at breckyunits.com. You can see over a decade of commits in just one of my GitHub accounts at github.com/breck7. You can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. You are free to post your opinions and criticisms of me, I really am grateful for it and often learn a lot from criticism.

> a habit of speaking with the "royal we" for instance.

This is a fair point. I'll explain. My Tree Notation ideas are simple, bold, and have very big implications if I'm right. I have gotten tremendous help from hundreds of people, and have had thousands of conversations about it. My initial paper had initials of many people who read the initial drafts and helped me publish it. I got a lot of negative comments when I posted it, with the most common that it was nothing original and/or that I was some crazy nut detached from reality. Instead of subject my friends and collaborators to that, I've just decided to be the shield that takes the heat, while everyone else does the hard job of pushing these ideas forward. I think it's now pretty close to the point where people see that we were right after all, and Tree Notation may indeed eat the software world, and you will set a lot of new names, and mine will fade out.

Re: Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

#107

Post by nickpinkston »

gojomo wrote: post #94
nickpinkston wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Changed for clarity, but my point stands. It's kind of funny in retrospect.

Funny in a 'Beavis and Butthead', "heh, heh, we can find a prurient way to interpret this" way, sure.

See parent, but it was a theme of Epstein's projects to be named with innuendos.

Re: Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

#108

Post by p0llard »

Internal email this afternoon from President Reif:

To the members of the MIT community,

Last night, The New Yorker published an article that contains deeply disturbing allegations about the engagement between individuals at the Media Lab and Jeffrey Epstein.

Because the accusations in the story are extremely serious, they demand an immediate, thorough and independent investigation. This morning, I asked MIT’s General Counsel to engage a prominent law firm to design and conduct this process. I expect the firm to conduct this review as swiftly as possible, and to report back to me and to the Executive Committee of the MIT Corporation, MIT’s governing board.

This afternoon, Joi Ito submitted his resignation as Director of the Media Lab and as a professor and employee of the Institute.

As I described in my previous letter, the acceptance of the Epstein gifts involved a mistake of judgment. We are actively assessing how best to improve our policies, processes and procedures to fully reflect MIT’s values and prevent such mistakes in the future. Our internal review process continues, and what we learn from it will inform the path ahead.

Sincerely,

L. Rafael Reif

Re: Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

#109

Post by nashashmi »

adrian_mrd wrote: post #92

Adjacent: that’s well-written PR spin from the Gates’ camp: > “Epstein was introduced to Bill Gates as someone who was interested in helping grow philanthropy. Although Epstein pursued Bill Gates aggressively, any account of a business partnership or personal relationship between the two is simply not true. And any claim that Epstein directed any programmatic or personal grant making for Bill Gates is completely fals…

> Why does it matter if Epstein was aggressive or not if Gates wrote the check?

To respond to concerns that the two were spotted together frequently. This is an answer to a question. Figure out the question and you will understand.

Re: Joi Ito Resigns from M.I.T. Media Lab After Outcry over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

#110

Post by tptacek »

nf8nnfufuu wrote: post #15
jakelazaroff wrote: post #3

Good. Here’s a particularly damning passage from Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker article [1]: > According to Swenson, Ito had informed Cohen that Epstein “never goes into any room without his two female ‘assistants,’ ” whom he wanted to bring to the meeting at the Media Lab. Swenson objected to this, too, and it was decided that the assistants would be allowed to accompany Epstein but would wait outside the meeting room. >…

Sorry, I don't get it. Somebody having assistants who look like models and are from Eastern Europe is suspicious of trafficking women? How? Why? I have heard about Epstein, obviously with hindsight all sorts of things he did can be seen in a new light. I just don't understand what is so damning about the passage above. Would somebody who is trafficking women really take them everywhere he goes? I thought it would be…

That Epstein was problematic --- something that in essentially no doubt at this point after his indictment, imprisonment, and subsequent suicide --- was so well-understood to the Media Lab team at the time that they were considering intervening to help Epstein's escorts, on the off chance that they had been trafficked. That is not a position most people's bosses ever put them in, but it's what Ito did to staff at the Lab.

If your point is "they probably weren't trafficked at least in the lurid sense we mean when we talk about trafficking", sure, but that's not the point. The point is that Ito's collaboration with Epstein was not incidental, but rather deliberate, overt, and actually disruptive to the operations of the Lab.

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