1
00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:04,360
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein and his ties to Harvard have been very

2
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:08,199
well publicized at this point. We know that they had

3
00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:12,560
a very very cozy relationship, and we know that Harvard

4
00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:17,679
played loose with the truth. The question I have always

5
00:00:17,679 --> 00:00:23,000
had is where is the outcry from the world of academia.

6
00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:25,800
Now we have had some people step forward, like doctor

7
00:00:25,839 --> 00:00:29,760
Stephen Delay, who were outraged by the behavior of not

8
00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:35,079
only Harvard but by the board, and we needed more

9
00:00:35,079 --> 00:00:37,799
of that. We need more people who were in the

10
00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,920
world of academia to be critical of this sort of thing.

11
00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,640
There is no place for this in the halls of

12
00:00:45,679 --> 00:00:48,240
a place like Harvard. When you send your children to

13
00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:53,159
Harvard for that amount of money, you should expect certain things, Okay,

14
00:00:53,679 --> 00:00:57,320
Like you know, they should get a good education, they

15
00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:01,479
should have quality professors, and they shouldn't have to worry

16
00:01:01,479 --> 00:01:05,959
about a pedophile having an office on the campus. In

17
00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:11,400
today's article, we have another person, this time a professor

18
00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:15,280
from Harvard, who has a few things to say about

19
00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:20,719
what occurred. Our article is from the Scientific American. The

20
00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:26,920
author is Naomi Orescus. Headline Jeffrey Epstein's Harvard connections show

21
00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,239
how money can distort research, letting the rich pay for

22
00:01:30,359 --> 00:01:33,640
science that interests them is a bad idea, even if

23
00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,760
they aren't convicted sex offenders, and I agree with that.

24
00:01:37,079 --> 00:01:40,319
I think that this research should be something that is

25
00:01:40,519 --> 00:01:44,319
done by these departments, and they should really be vetting

26
00:01:44,359 --> 00:01:47,200
where this money comes from. There's no excuse in this

27
00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,719
day and age, with all of the technology, to not

28
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:56,120
know where these donations are originating from. This past May,

29
00:01:56,239 --> 00:01:59,719
Harvard University, where I teach, issued a report on its

30
00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:04,400
relationlationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It was admirably

31
00:02:04,519 --> 00:02:09,080
forthright miacolpa, highlighting three areas of concern. The first was

32
00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:13,319
the contradiction of addressing sexual assault and harassment on campus

33
00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,000
while accepting money from a man who had promoted sexual

34
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,759
abuse of minors. And I don't know how they can

35
00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:24,479
do both right. I don't know how you can talk

36
00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,879
about sexual assault and harassment on campus from your Ivory

37
00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:32,400
tower while at the same time accepting money from Jeffrey Epstein,

38
00:02:32,719 --> 00:02:35,759
having him involved in the campus he has an office.

39
00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:43,159
All of that absolutely hypocritical and disgusting. The second was

40
00:02:43,199 --> 00:02:47,000
the mockery made of academic standards when, after donating two

41
00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:51,120
hundred thousand dollars to the psychology department. Epstein was appointed

42
00:02:51,199 --> 00:02:54,800
as a visiting fellow there despite a complete lack of

43
00:02:54,879 --> 00:03:00,360
appropriate academic qualifications. And we talked about this already as well. Well.

44
00:03:00,599 --> 00:03:02,960
Imagine being one of these people who has put in

45
00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,599
the time, put in all the work to try and

46
00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,479
become a fellow, and then Jeffrey Epstein just cruises right

47
00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:12,520
on in with his two hundred thousand dollars donation and

48
00:03:12,599 --> 00:03:18,280
gets that title. I would be absolutely incensed. I would

49
00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,639
go crazy, honestly if that was the case. If I

50
00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:23,759
got passed up for this Jeffrey Epstein guy to become

51
00:03:23,759 --> 00:03:26,599
a fellow because he had a bunch of dough forget it,

52
00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:32,599
I would light the place on fire verbally. The third

53
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,319
was his close connection to Harvard's program for Evolutionary Dynamics.

54
00:03:37,039 --> 00:03:40,240
Even after his release from prison, Epstein continued to be

55
00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:45,560
a frequent visitor. Between twenty ten and twenty eighteen, Epstein,

56
00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,560
at that point, a registered sex offender, went to the

57
00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,639
PED offices more than forty times during that period. He

58
00:03:52,719 --> 00:03:55,159
had an on campus office and a key card and

59
00:03:55,199 --> 00:03:58,560
a passcode with which he could enter buildings during off hours.

60
00:03:58,879 --> 00:04:03,080
Imagine that, huh, A key card, he had a pass,

61
00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,840
he can go around off hours. And we're not talking

62
00:04:06,879 --> 00:04:09,960
about a normal human being here. We're not talking about

63
00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,400
a man who is just an average rich guy who

64
00:04:12,479 --> 00:04:16,319
has a couple of quirks. We're talking about a serial

65
00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:21,040
predator who loved to prey on underage girls and girls

66
00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,199
who appeared to be underage. And you're going to basically

67
00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:26,639
give this guy the keys to the kingdom of Harvard.

68
00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:32,160
You're gonna let this predator romp around your campus looking

69
00:04:32,199 --> 00:04:36,240
for girls to send Gilaine in to groom. It is

70
00:04:36,399 --> 00:04:41,439
absolutely beyond the pale of unconscionable. It's not just that

71
00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,680
an awful person was able to buy a halo of respectability.

72
00:04:45,199 --> 00:04:48,199
The Epstein affair brings to light a much larger problem.

73
00:04:48,639 --> 00:04:52,959
It undermines the integrity of the research enterprise when individuals

74
00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,759
can pick and choose lines of inquiry that appeal to

75
00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,279
them simply because they can pay for them. And you

76
00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:03,319
would always think right that in a place like Harvard

77
00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,600
there would be plenty of money to go around for projects.

78
00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:09,160
I mean, they charge enough to go to the damn school,

79
00:05:09,519 --> 00:05:11,519
so you would think that there would be plenty of

80
00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,680
benefactors around that are willing to pony up the dough.

81
00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:19,160
Normal people, right, real businessmen without these sort of proclivities,

82
00:05:19,199 --> 00:05:21,720
Dudes that aren't sex traffickers. I mean, it's really that

83
00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,920
hard to find them. There are tons of rich people around,

84
00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:27,720
tons of people who went to Harvard. I am sure

85
00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,800
some of them would have gladly ponied up some dough.

86
00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:35,000
But instead Harvard decided to get in bed with this serpent,

87
00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,000
and not only get in bed with this serpent, but

88
00:05:38,319 --> 00:05:42,839
open the gates to the backyard and let this serpent

89
00:05:43,639 --> 00:05:49,800
free amongst the students. Academic life is tough in part

90
00:05:49,879 --> 00:05:53,240
because researchers with good ideas have to compete for funding.

91
00:05:53,759 --> 00:05:57,920
When peer review operates properly, it identifies the best ideas

92
00:05:57,959 --> 00:06:02,480
to support, usually by using panels, not individuals, to see

93
00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,680
it that a range of views is represented. And I

94
00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:08,319
think that that's probably the best way to go about it, right,

95
00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:11,120
A panel, a bunch of people taking a look at

96
00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:13,920
what's going on to see who should get the funds,

97
00:06:13,959 --> 00:06:18,079
who has the best idea, And that's the proper method

98
00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,399
for something like this. But instead it's all about guys

99
00:06:21,399 --> 00:06:25,680
like Jeffrey Epstein bagman who show up and they move

100
00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,160
heaven and Earth with their donations, and even in a

101
00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,199
place like Harvard, folks, even with these scientists, it's all

102
00:06:34,399 --> 00:06:41,279
about the money. The process is imperfect. But women, people

103
00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:45,920
of color, young scholars, investigators at non elite universities, and

104
00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:50,759
individuals promoting ideas that challenge conventional wisdom at least have

105
00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,319
a chance. And I think that's a good thing, right

106
00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,279
we don't. There are so many smart people out there

107
00:06:56,360 --> 00:07:00,199
from all walks of life, all colors, all creeds, all

108
00:07:01,319 --> 00:07:05,360
and I think it's important, especially in an institution like Harvard,

109
00:07:05,639 --> 00:07:09,399
that everybody has an equal opportunity. If their ideas are

110
00:07:09,399 --> 00:07:12,759
good enough to get funding, you shouldn't have to get

111
00:07:12,759 --> 00:07:16,079
funding from a guy like Jeffrey Epstein. Again, I am

112
00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:20,800
sure that there are many benefactors at Harvard who would

113
00:07:20,959 --> 00:07:25,319
gladly donate some money to this sort of research. But

114
00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,439
it was lazy, it was easy, and they knew that

115
00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,920
Epstein was ready to come out of the pocket not

116
00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,680
only for their projects, but also for their personal gain,

117
00:07:35,959 --> 00:07:39,079
because we know that these professors that were working with

118
00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:44,360
Epstein were also taking money on the side. But more

119
00:07:44,399 --> 00:07:47,639
than two thirds of Epstein's donations six and a half million,

120
00:07:47,959 --> 00:07:52,720
went to ped director Martin Nowak. Epstein encouraged others to

121
00:07:52,759 --> 00:07:57,040
give two million to geneticists George Church. Both were already

122
00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:01,319
extremely well established and well funded. Epstein was helping the

123
00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:05,439
flush get flusher. Church notes that Epstein's funding supported not

124
00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:09,399
just him, but also his large and diverse team. No

125
00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,959
Act did not reply to a request for comment. And again,

126
00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:17,279
these guys that Jeffrey Epstein was funding, I don't think

127
00:08:17,319 --> 00:08:19,000
he was just doing it out of the kindness of

128
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,920
his heart. There was an ulterior motive here. He wanted

129
00:08:21,959 --> 00:08:24,720
access to this research. The people that were running him

130
00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:27,800
as an asset wanted access to this research. Do you

131
00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,160
think it's just a coincidence that he was basically just

132
00:08:31,279 --> 00:08:34,519
in the middle of Los Alamos and the Santa Fe

133
00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:39,039
Institute with his location in New Mexico. That's not a coincidence.

134
00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,440
He had access to scientists at both places, and lord

135
00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:48,080
only knows what the hell sort of information they gave him.

136
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:50,360
What made it even worse was the Epstein was a

137
00:08:50,399 --> 00:08:54,080
latter d eugenicist whose interests were tied to a delusional

138
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:56,799
notion of seating the human race with his own DNA.

139
00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,480
And if you think he wasn't talking about that with

140
00:08:59,519 --> 00:09:03,919
these sciences missing, you're missing the point here. Jeffrey Epstein

141
00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,039
and his scientist cronies, they all were on the same page.

142
00:09:07,159 --> 00:09:09,559
These people knew what Epstein was after, they knew what

143
00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:14,120
he wanted, and they willingly got into bed with him.

144
00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:17,600
Given this stance, it is particularly disturbing that he focused

145
00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:21,399
his largess on research on the genetic basis of human behavior.

146
00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,720
Human genetics is an ethically sensitive and intellectually contested domain

147
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,799
where it behooves us to ensure that the highest standards

148
00:09:29,799 --> 00:09:33,080
of scientific rigor are in place and that the non

149
00:09:33,159 --> 00:09:37,679
genetic explanations for behavior are given a fair chance to compete.

150
00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:43,279
And that was not the case. Jeffrey Epstein inserted himself

151
00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:48,840
into a highly controversial scientific subject and nobody called him out.

152
00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:51,480
Nobody stepped up to the plate and asked, what the

153
00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,120
hell is going on here, Martin Noak, Why are you

154
00:09:54,159 --> 00:09:56,879
accepting so much money from Jeffrey Epstein? Why are you

155
00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:01,519
paling around with Jeffrey Epstein? Why are you visib his properties?

156
00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,039
But nobody did any of that. It was just all

157
00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,759
par for the course. And to tell you the truth, folks,

158
00:10:07,759 --> 00:10:10,519
what that tells us is that this is just how

159
00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:14,200
things were done. This was business as usual at Harvard

160
00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:19,840
and these other universities, and their canned explanations and their

161
00:10:19,879 --> 00:10:26,799
apologies are garbage. Scientists might claim that Epstein's money in

162
00:10:26,799 --> 00:10:29,600
no way caused them to lower their standards, but we

163
00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:34,039
have broad evidence that the interests of funders often influenced

164
00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,639
the work done. And that is scary again, because we

165
00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:40,919
know Epstein was not just working for himself. We know

166
00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,360
that Epstein had handlers, We know that they had demands.

167
00:10:45,919 --> 00:10:49,879
So with these scientists and the projects that they're working on,

168
00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:54,919
it terrifies me to know that these people were giving

169
00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:59,519
Jeffrey Epstein their research, I would guess, and who knows

170
00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:03,919
who Everstein was passing that along to. The New York

171
00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,000
Times concluded that in this case, it led researchers to

172
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,960
give credence to some of mister Epstein's half baked scientific musings.

173
00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:14,320
True or not, it should trouble us that a corrupt

174
00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:19,159
man was making decisions affecting research at a major US university.

175
00:11:19,279 --> 00:11:23,039
He had no academic competence, yet he effectively made choices

176
00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:28,399
about which research initiatives were interesting and promising. I'm sorry

177
00:11:28,399 --> 00:11:30,679
to share that with you, folks. I know that we

178
00:11:30,919 --> 00:11:34,360
like to think that our scientists and our doctors are

179
00:11:34,399 --> 00:11:38,600
above reproach, that they would never ever get into bed

180
00:11:38,639 --> 00:11:42,679
with Jeffrey Epstein, But that is not the case, like

181
00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:48,279
in any other part of the world, or feel that

182
00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:53,399
you might be in money talks, money talks, and especially

183
00:11:53,639 --> 00:11:58,919
when it's Jeffrey Epstein type money. Moreover, when Epstein got

184
00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:03,240
into trouble, faculty members defended him and even visited him

185
00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:07,639
in jail. When Epstein's lawyer, Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz, needed

186
00:12:07,639 --> 00:12:11,720
help to argue on semantic grounds that Epstein was not

187
00:12:11,799 --> 00:12:15,519
guilty as charged, he reached out to Harvard's psychologist and

188
00:12:15,639 --> 00:12:19,960
linguist Steven Pinker. Pinker, who never took funds from Epstein,

189
00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,000
says he did not know to what use his advice

190
00:12:23,159 --> 00:12:26,120
was being put, and aided Dershowitz only as a favor

191
00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,320
to a friend and a colleague. But that is precisely

192
00:12:29,399 --> 00:12:33,519
the point. Epstein had purchased friends in high places, and

193
00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:39,080
those friends had friends who helped him, even if inadvertently. Well,

194
00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:41,399
I wouldn't go that far, and I think you're being

195
00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:44,639
a little kind to them saying it was inadvertant. But

196
00:12:44,919 --> 00:12:47,679
to be honest with you, I think they all knew

197
00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:50,200
what Epstein was, and I think that they didn't care,

198
00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:52,279
because at the end of the day, it was all

199
00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,600
about funding these projects. It was all about more money

200
00:12:55,600 --> 00:13:01,919
in the bank, and the scientific pursuit of whatever topic

201
00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:06,840
that they were studying went out the window when Jeffrey

202
00:13:06,879 --> 00:13:10,639
Epstein came in and tainted the situation with his money

203
00:13:10,799 --> 00:13:13,759
and his requests. Again, folks, I don't have any direct

204
00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:16,879
evidence right that I can point to to tell you

205
00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:20,039
all right, well, you can see here how these scientists

206
00:13:20,039 --> 00:13:23,840
were giving Jeffrey Epstein their research and Epstein was doing

207
00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:27,960
whatever with it. But if Jeffrey Epstein was working for

208
00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:32,879
an intelligence agency, if Jeffrey Epstein was compiling blackmail data

209
00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:37,679
on powerful people, what would make us think that he

210
00:13:37,919 --> 00:13:41,399
was not also collecting the secrets from the scientific world

211
00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:46,960
and passing them on to his handlers. These matters have

212
00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,879
come to light because Epstein was a criminal, But Harvard

213
00:13:49,919 --> 00:13:53,679
is not alone in accepting tainted money. Universities need to

214
00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:57,679
develop policies to ensure that research funding is based on merit,

215
00:13:58,039 --> 00:14:02,159
not cronyism, and research who are seeking public trust must

216
00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:05,960
be able to show that their own ethical compasses are

217
00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:10,759
not deflected by the magnetism of money. Well, that's definitely

218
00:14:10,799 --> 00:14:13,720
how it should be, but I think that it's going

219
00:14:13,759 --> 00:14:17,000
to be hard to get these institutions on board with that.

220
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,279
We all know that money is the life's blood of

221
00:14:20,399 --> 00:14:23,519
these projects, and we all know that there are other

222
00:14:23,639 --> 00:14:27,639
men and women like Jeffrey Epstein and Glen Maxwell out there.

223
00:14:28,639 --> 00:14:31,919
It is up to us, and it is most certainly

224
00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:36,399
up to these universities to hold them to a higher

225
00:14:36,519 --> 00:14:41,679
standard when receiving funds for these schools, because if not,

226
00:14:42,039 --> 00:14:44,240
we're just going to have a repeat of this later

227
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,080
on down the road. Another Siko's going to show up,

228
00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,519
and he's going to exploit the same loopholes and exploit

229
00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,000
the same shoddy, shitty system, and we're going to have

230
00:14:54,039 --> 00:15:00,399
a repeat of Jeffrey Epstein all over again. Unless, of course,

231
00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:08,080
more people like Naomi Ourescus and doctor Stephen Delay step forward.

232
00:15:09,039 --> 00:15:12,679
When academia starts to rally around this, and academia starts

233
00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:16,679
to call out their own, then we are most certainly

234
00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:20,399
on the right path. If you'd like to contact me,

235
00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:23,639
you can do that at Bobby Kapucci at ProtonMail dot com.

236
00:15:23,639 --> 00:15:26,200
That's b O. B b y c ap U c

237
00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:29,679
c I at ProtonMail dot com. You can also find

238
00:15:29,679 --> 00:15:33,559
me on Twitter at Bobby Underscore c A p U

239
00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,639
c c I. The link that goes with this article

240
00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:38,440
can be found in the description box.

