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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

#221

Post by bertil »

mrosett wrote: post #25
danso wrote: post #8

Someone who was asked by Ito to be on the MIT Disobedience Award jury wrote a long tweet thread yesterday calling out Reid Hoffman for his defense of Ito: https://twitter.com/anandwrites/status/1169952673988300800

I don't think that thread shows that Hoffman defended Ito, despite the author's claims. I'm basically willing to take Hoffman's responses at face value. Clearly there was an ongoing investigation, as demonstrated by Ito's resignation today. When news broke about Ito and Epstein last month, Giriharadas was pretty far down on the list of people who Ito needed to answer to (since he was just part of what I imagine to be…

> Ultimately, this thread does feel a lot like the author making a dreadful scandal about himself.

This is what Hoffman is saying, and it would be very on-brand for Giriharadas to do so.

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

#222

Post by darawk »

tptacek wrote: post #174
defen wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using his position for his own personal enrichment is also, at the very least, ethically shady as hell, right?

I'm an Epstein Absolutist and feel Ito should have resigned way before Ronan Farrow's article was published, so yes, I think this is all very shady. I don't generally think people have a moral right to hold on to prominent directorships like the MIT Media Lab --- when you take that job†, I think you also undertake an ethical obligation to leave that post as soon as it becomes reasonable to say that your continued pre…

> when you take that job†, I think you also undertake an ethical obligation to leave that post as soon as it becomes reasonable to say that your continued presence is a distraction or disruption from the mission of the organization

While that's all well and good when it's an issue you agree with, would you be willing to apply that standard in the other direction? If Joi Ito had created a controversy by standing on principle for something you believed in, would you say the same thing?

My point being that you cannot divorce the distraction/disruption from the ethical view of the action itself. Many things are disruptive, but some disruptive things are ethically important. We do not want to discourage prominent figures from taking controversial stances simply because it might distract from the mission of their organization. At least, I don't think that's a healthy thing to do in an untargeted way.

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

#224

Post by anigbrowl »

FireBeyond wrote: post #46
CalChris wrote: post #37

Good. These were in no way innocent ties. He knew who Epstein was and misled people. Ito could be on the hook for civil fraud. The elements of fraud are: a purposeful misrepresentation of a fact with knowledge that it is false to a victim who justifiably relies on the misrepresentation who suffers actual loss as a result.

That's reaching, a whole lot. Ito knew who Epstein was, as did everyone else - Epstein's conviction wasn't a secret. That harms Ito through his poor decision making, but other people were just as capable of knowing who Epstein was. Who suffered an actual loss as a result of these donations? Civil fraud is grasping, some.

Other donors who may not have been as willing to contribute to the lab if they knew the lab accepted monies from Epstein. That's why his donations were recategorized as anonymous even though the recipients know who they came from.

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

#225

Post by [deleted] »

wheels wrote: post #197
mulmen wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you validate your assumptions to ensure your mental model is correct?

Different levels of physical affection often make it clear. Put another way: you can't always rule out wife. You can often rule out daughter. But we also don't particularly care about being accurate all the time.

[deleted]

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

#226

Post by coldtea »

nf8nnfufuu wrote: post #214
coldtea wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having young girl-friends is not the same as sex trafficking, though, or is it? I thought sex trafficking would be luring girls out of their country with false promises, then burning their passports so that they can't flee Well, that pretty much sums up what Epstein did. You don't even need to burn passports, you can psychologically manipulate, threaten, beat up, hook on drugs, pass to friends, parade your powerful…

"psychologically manipulate" - isn't that just a loaded way of saying "convince"? Did he actually do all those other things, beatings, threatening? Or is it such a stereotype that it is just assumed that it must have been this way?

>"psychologically manipulate" - isn't that just a loaded way of saying "convince"?

"(...) The girls he allegedly abused were largely from troubled backgrounds, either in the foster care system, from broken families, or below the poverty line".

-- and as young as 14 year old, at that. Does "convince" really apply?

>Did he actually do all those other things, beatings, threatening?

(...) Multiple women say they attempted to refuse Epstein, but to no avail.

“I was terrified and I was telling him to stop,” said Araoz, recounting one visit during which Epstein raped her.

“If I left Epstein … he could have had me killed or abducted, and I always knew he was capable of that if I did not obey him,” another alleged victim, Virginia Roberts, said during a hearing.

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

#227

Post by [deleted] »

KibbutzDalia wrote: post #156
nf8nnfufuu wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

So because these young ladies were attractive they couldn’t have been there because they were interested in the MIT media lab.

[deleted]

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

#228

Post by davrosthedalek »

esoterica wrote: post #210
moron4hire wrote: post #59

My mother works in the non-profit fundraising sector, originally centered on education, but now runs her own consultancy for non-profits of all sizes. She knows pretty much all the rules and laws about donations and propriety within fundraising foundations. I've helped her with her business, both in actual operations and for her IT concerns. I've also worked in other regulated industries, so I have a fair amount of f…

Jail for what? Accepting donations from a pedo is not a crime.

He hid the donations from MIT. Since Epstein was on the blacklist, MIT might have a civil case against him. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know if that would be, for example, "fraud".

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

#229

Post by nf8nnfufuu »

prepend wrote: post #216
wheels wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? My wife and I see it often enough that we've even labeled it: "the wife or daughter game". You observe such a constellation and try to figure out which one it is. Less often the answer is "escort".

I play this game as well but call it “daughter or prostitute.” It’s pretty common to see old dudes with young women. I’ve rarely been able to actually find the answer. The few times I’ve gone to fancy resorts or expensive areas, I’ve always seen couples like this. Only a few times did I see more than one woman. I worked for a ceo once who always had a much younger (25 vs 65) assistant in the building. I don’t think I…

If you have rarely been able to actually find the answer, why do you assume prostitute? Sounds rather misogynist to me.

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

#230

Post by DonHopkins »

"Resigning to spend more time with my guild."

Joi Ito: What World of Warcraft taught me about being a better leader (chronicle.com) - 32 points by yarapavan on Apr 28, 2011

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2493209

https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/new-director-of-...

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