[olefoo]

Then there is the whole question of whether Epstein was using his money to _direct research_ specifically to junk science like Euugenics.

I think Sarah Taber said it best though.

""" I think the best lens to understand what was going on here isn't just "reputation laundering."

The Media Lab's leadership catered to a superiority fetish in exchange for cash.

That's sex work """

https://twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/117193193908069171...

[partialrecall]

Dang, I missed that whole 'subplot' about the food computer scam: https://gizmodo.com/mit-built-a-theranos-for-plants-18379682...

What a weird lab.

[xkcd-sucks]

It's a department, and it's dedicated to the creation of media. Doing "cool nerd stuff" is strictly to support that mission.

Very postmodern and advanced if you think about it-- Most actual scientists are measured by how they produce papers (e.g. media). Which is also how the "replication crisis" and "p hacking" came to be. The Media Lab just recognizes it explicitly

[partialrecall]

So their objective was to create a media splash about 'food computers', rather than to actually advance ag technology? That somehow seems even weirder.

[wutangson1]

Epic twitter thread