Jaron Lanier on social media • Hacker News Board

Re: Jaron Lanier on social media

#41

Post by tortasaur » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 12:18 PM UTC

seebetter wrote: post #35

DonHopkins wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jaron Lanier on porn: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/style/jaron-lanier-new-me... >Mr. Lanier, who discourses eloquently on subjects like limerence and lust in his book, says: “The future I’d prefer to see is one where people use VR together to make really crazy imaginative experiences that might be sexual or might not. Where you turn into fantastical creatures and that sort of thing. Or when your bodies merge in…

Porn sucks vs reality. And the general attitude that it is normal and healthy is probably wrong. The future of intimacy is human.

This depends very much upon your reality.

Re: Jaron Lanier on social media

#42

Post by HugeAcumen » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:27 PM UTC

scottlocklin wrote: post #18

s1mon wrote: post #2

Is is just me or is Jaron Lanier the Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton of VR? Journalists seem to dig him up every few years for some puff piece, but I have never really seen what he's done other than managing to be available when someone needs a quote about VR. This is from someone who worshipped Wired magazine and moved to SF to be around all the visionaries and "techno-pagans" and what not in 1994.

It's not just you. Lanier is mostly famous for being famous: he is an inveterate social climber which is why he has so many juicy Epstein anecdotes[0]. In my experience (I used to live in Berkeley and have been to his house and otherwise in his presence a couple of times via mutual friends) he rarely knows what he's talking about. Saw him stiff two grad students on a split check as well, back when he was at SGI; coul…

In case anyone is taken in by this, here is the relevant part of the link:

"Jaron Lanier, a pioneer in the field of virtual reality, told the Times that at a dinner at Epstein’s townhouse, a NASA scientist mentioned that Epstein’s goal was to impregnate 20 women at a time, having “based his idea for a baby ranch on accounts of the Repository for Germinal Choice, which was to be stocked with the sperm of Nobel laureates who wanted to strengthen the human gene pool.” Lanier said that he got the impression that Epstein used his dinner parties, where guests included “attractive women with impressive academic credentials,” to screen potential candidates to knock up, like the sociopath he is."

Not exactly something an Epstein friend would point out to media. A grand total of one anecdata. And, that was in 2006, before Epstein's predilections were known.

I once saw Scott Locklin smear a guy by associating him with Epstein before Lanier could possibly have known his character, even though it's clear they weren't friends. And that's how I'll always remember him.

Re: Jaron Lanier on social media

#43

Post by scottlocklin » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 10:39 PM UTC

HugeAcumen wrote: post #42

scottlocklin wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just you. Lanier is mostly famous for being famous: he is an inveterate social climber which is why he has so many juicy Epstein anecdotes[0]. In my experience (I used to live in Berkeley and have been to his house and otherwise in his presence a couple of times via mutual friends) he rarely knows what he's talking about. Saw him stiff two grad students on a split check as well, back when he was at SGI; coul…

In case anyone is taken in by this, here is the relevant part of the link: "Jaron Lanier, a pioneer in the field of virtual reality, told the Times that at a dinner at Epstein’s townhouse, a NASA scientist mentioned that Epstein’s goal was to impregnate 20 women at a time, having “based his idea for a baby ranch on accounts of the Repository for Germinal Choice, which was to be stocked with the sperm of Nobel laureat…

He socialized with Epstein (post conviction? looks like he did![0]), ran in the same circles (publishing in that that ridiculous "Edge foundation" thing[1]) and threw him under the bus only after he was safely declared dead, apparently seeing nothing wrong with Epstein's grotesque antics as long as the spice was flowing[2].

It's not the worst thing I can say about him, and in fact isn't the worst thing I said about him above, but, well SOMEBODY is a little sensitive. I think "social climber" is a pretty accurate, even generous description for this sort of behavior.

[0] https://www.edge.org/events/master-class-2011the-science-of-... -and a snapshot Edge tried to remove: https://imgur.com/fVs3jSp

[1]https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-ep...

[2] https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2019/08/jeffrey-ep...