MIT

[bitrex]

MIT is habitually involved in some scummy scandal or other like I
thought these people were supposed to be smart.

<https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/09/15/can-mit-media-lab-save-itself/gA3nLvlfZodSBtmxivAABP/story.html>

"I don't want to see the Media Lab crumble due to Epstein's dirty money"

why not? They throw tons of money at some of the dumbest shit like this
holoprojector project that's been under development for over 30 years
with no marketable product,

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSwE32q7wjQ>

robot friends for senior citizens like any senior citizens asked for it,
and automatic breast-milk sucking machines.

 

[Whoey Louie]

On Tuesday, September 17, 2019 at 5:50:55 PM UTC-4, bitrex wrote:

MIT is habitually involved in some scummy scandal or other like I
thought these people were supposed to be smart.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/09/15/can-mit-media-lab-save-itself/gA3nLvlfZodSBtmxivAABP/story.html

"I don't want to see the Media Lab crumble due to Epstein's dirty money"

why not? They throw tons of money at some of the dumbest shit like this
holoprojector project that's been under development for over 30 years
with no marketable product,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSwE32q7wjQ

robot friends for senior citizens like any senior citizens asked for it,
and automatic breast-milk sucking machines.

IDK, there are some interesting questions and points here. Epstein
was convicted of solicitation of prostitution involving a minor.
He served a year, 5 days a week he was out of jail and in his office.
That's how serious the feds and the state of FL considered it at the
time, that's what they had on him. If they don't consider it a big
deal, then should MIT? I suppose the answer is probably yes, but
there is some inherent contradiction there. He also served his parole
with no further incidents.

Second, it's not like he was a mafia kingpin, or Bernie Maddoff,
where his money was dirty,
having come from illegal streams. There is no indication from anything
that i've heard that his money came from anything illegal. So, if he
wants to pour millions into a college, to do good, is that all bad?
It should be rejected? Maybe he feels remorse? Is it better he spend
his money on himself instead of some worthwhile causes getting some of it?
Given the above and that new charges were not leveled until just now,
the MIT Media Lab director had no way of knowing these new charges were
coming. I suppose they could hire an investigator to vet him more,
etc, but that seems unrealistic. I'm not saying it was a great idea,
only that Epstein's money, which was clean, did go to some good use and
maybe it's not as terrible as it sounds.

 

[whit3rd]

On Tuesday, September 17, 2019 at 6:14:58 PM UTC-7, Tom Del Rosso wrote:

bitrex wrote:

It would be tremendously unfair if the Media Lab crumbled when the
Democratic party got much more of his money.

Money isn't a contaminant. Toxic persons don't
incriminate their neighbors or associates.

Hitler was a bad 'un, but the VW had merits.

 

[Tom Del Rosso]

bitrex wrote:

MIT is habitually involved in some scummy scandal or other like I
thought these people were supposed to be smart.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/09/15/can-mit-media-lab-save-itself/gA3nLvlfZodSBtmxivAABP/story.html

"I don't want to see the Media Lab crumble due to Epstein's dirty
money"

It would be tremendously unfair if the Media Lab crumbled when the
Democratic party got much more of his money.

 

On Tue, 17 Sep 2019 18:32:34 -0700 (PDT), whit3rd <whit3rd@gmail.com>
wrote:

On Tuesday, September 17, 2019 at 6:14:58 PM UTC-7, Tom Del Rosso wrote:
bitrex wrote:

It would be tremendously unfair if the Media Lab crumbled when the
Democratic party got much more of his money.

Money isn't a contaminant. Toxic persons don't
incriminate their neighbors or associates.

They do when the "neighbors and associates" know, or should know, the
person is toxic and do business with them anyway.

>Hitler was a bad 'un, but the VW had merits.

Um, the VW is an inanimate object. Like an AR15, it has no free will.

 

[bitrex]

On 9/18/19 6:05 PM, bitrex wrote:

On 9/17/19 9:14 PM, Tom Del Rosso wrote:
bitrex wrote:
MIT is habitually involved in some scummy scandal or other like I
thought these people were supposed to be smart.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/09/15/can-mit-media-lab-save-itself/gA3nLvlfZodSBtmxivAABP/story.html


"I don't want to see the Media Lab crumble due to Epstein's dirty
money"

It would be tremendously unfair if the Media Lab crumbled when the
Democratic party got much more of his money.




Looking down their list of current research projects there's some worthy
stuff in there.

there's also a lot of stuff that's like a bad caricature of things
left-wing nerds like to do with their spare time.

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/persian-domes-for-human-space-exploration-on-mars/overview/


I mean, honestly.

I went to art school mind you and saw my fair share of tits-on-a-bull
projects.

Art is often supposed to be "functionally" useless some consider it just
a waste of time and money or the most pure and honest (LOL!) discipline
there is, depending.

 

[bitrex]

On 9/17/19 9:14 PM, Tom Del Rosso wrote:

bitrex wrote:
MIT is habitually involved in some scummy scandal or other like I
thought these people were supposed to be smart.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/09/15/can-mit-media-lab-save-itself/gA3nLvlfZodSBtmxivAABP/story.html

"I don't want to see the Media Lab crumble due to Epstein's dirty
money"

It would be tremendously unfair if the Media Lab crumbled when the
Democratic party got much more of his money.

Looking down their list of current research projects there's some worthy
stuff in there.

there's also a lot of stuff that's like a bad caricature of things
left-wing nerds like to do with their spare time.

<https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/persian-domes-for-human-space-exploration-on-mars/overview/>

I mean, honestly.

They've been tossing money at that holo-projector project since 1989! 30
years!

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjzC1Dgh17A>

"The University was great! We had money and facilities and we didn't
have to produce anything!"

Not all universities are like that to be sure. but...some of them
definitely are. I think the fact they had to accept $$$ on the down low
from a child predator shows that many potential donors felt the same
way. Like this is MIT, endowment of about a billion bucks, but the Media
Lab couldn't get these occasional small-time five and six fig donations
from nobody else?

 

[whit3rd]

On Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 3:05:48 PM UTC-7, bitrex wrote:

"The University was great! We had money and facilities and we didn't
have to produce anything!"

Not all universities are like that to be sure. but...

Any publicly funded university that produces something, in competition
with local businesses, gets slapped by the legislature. You're going to
see basic research at the university, but NOT commercialization except
at arms-length with some non-tax-exempt commercial investments
at some site down the block.

Stanford is famous for opening small enterprises all over their lands,
creating 'Silicon Valley'.

 

[bitrex]

On 9/18/19 7:37 PM, whit3rd wrote:

On Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 3:05:48 PM UTC-7, bitrex wrote:

"The University was great! We had money and facilities and we didn't
have to produce anything!"

Not all universities are like that to be sure. but...

Any publicly funded university that produces something, in competition
with local businesses, gets slapped by the legislature. You're going to
see basic research at the university, but NOT commercialization except
at arms-length with some non-tax-exempt commercial investments
at some site down the block.

Stanford is famous for opening small enterprises all over their lands,
creating 'Silicon Valley'.

it's MIT, they sure have historically done a whole lot more than "basic
research" there! MIT has been a revolving door with the defense industry
since forever

 

[Bill Sloman]

On Thursday, September 19, 2019 at 10:25:44 AM UTC+10, bitrex wrote:

On 9/18/19 7:37 PM, whit3rd wrote:
On Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 3:05:48 PM UTC-7, bitrex wrote:

"The University was great! We had money and facilities and we didn't
have to produce anything!"

Not all universities are like that to be sure. but...

Any publicly funded university that produces something, in competition
with local businesses, gets slapped by the legislature. You're going to
see basic research at the university, but NOT commercialization except
at arms-length with some non-tax-exempt commercial investments
at some site down the block.

Stanford is famous for opening small enterprises all over their lands,
creating 'Silicon Valley'.


it's MIT, they sure have historically done a whole lot more than "basic
research" there! MIT has been a revolving door with the defense industry
since forever

Route 128 - as a area with a lot of high-technology developments - probably preceded Silicon Valley.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0048733383900094

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

 

[bitrex]

On 9/18/19 11:08 PM, Bill Sloman wrote:

On Thursday, September 19, 2019 at 10:25:44 AM UTC+10, bitrex wrote:
On 9/18/19 7:37 PM, whit3rd wrote:
On Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 3:05:48 PM UTC-7, bitrex wrote:

"The University was great! We had money and facilities and we didn't
have to produce anything!"

Not all universities are like that to be sure. but...

Any publicly funded university that produces something, in competition
with local businesses, gets slapped by the legislature. You're going to
see basic research at the university, but NOT commercialization except
at arms-length with some non-tax-exempt commercial investments
at some site down the block.

Stanford is famous for opening small enterprises all over their lands,
creating 'Silicon Valley'.


it's MIT, they sure have historically done a whole lot more than "basic
research" there! MIT has been a revolving door with the defense industry
since forever

Route 128 - as a area with a lot of high-technology developments - probably preceded Silicon Valley.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0048733383900094

It surely did. The Computer History museum used to be in Boston prior to
it moving to Mountain View.

There are still a smattering of large electronics/computer tech firm
headquarters in the area but not like the "glory days" when everyone
knew someone who worked for DEC or Wang and they employed 80,000 people
or something between them. Analog Devices is one example

There were so many surplus DEC-logo three-ring binders floating around
in the early 1990s we used them to organize Dungeons & Dragons paperwork
(nerds!) they were free for the asking.

There are still many technology companies in the Route 128 area but it's
more biotechnology/pharmaceutical/medical focused now like e.g. Genzyme.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genzyme>