Sex trafficking

[pbrower2a]

I expect this topic to disgust us all. If you have any decency at all as a person it will disgust you. I have no desire to expose anything salacious. 

People, often children, are being abused badly. As one trafficker puts it, "You can sell a kilo of heroin once; you can sell a girl hundreds of times". There are heroes, there are villains, and there are victims. There could hardly be no more obvious separation between the three. There can be no "cultural" defense of this horror.

Sex trafficking is a modern form of slavery, but the methods of enslavement are much the same as with slavery on the old plantations.

People are hurting badly. They need to be delivered from the shame and pain that nobody deserves. Criminals in this racket deserve the fullest prosecution under the law. There can be no partisan bickering over this. Sex trafficking is a crime against humanity.

[pbrower2a]

On January 16, 2016, a trucker noticed something odd and disturbing while at a PILOT truck stop outside of Richmond, Virginia.
Kevin Kimmel said he:

Quote:"Saw what looked like a young girl looking out the window, the black drapes didn't make it look like a families' RV, you know," Kimmel told CBS affiliate WTVR. "I saw a guy come up and knock on the door then go inside the Pilot-then quickly came back and knocked again, all of the sudden the thing was rocking and rolling."

Kimmel called the police, but what he didn’t know was the young girl was not only a victim of sex trade, she was also a victim of torture. An Iowa couple, Aldair Hodza, 36, and Laura Sorensen, 31, have been charged with human trafficking. The victim was found starved, disheveled and had  evidence of extreme physical abuse, sexual abuse — and torture.

The details of the young victim’s torture are inhumane and Kimmel most likely saved this victim’s life. Here is a YouTube video from CBS WTVR News reporting more about the story.






Kimmel, who is a father and grandfather, says he was not aware of the torture details until later and at the time, thought of his daughter and granddaughter. There is an organization called Truckers Against Trafficking that trains truck drivers to recognize signs that might help save other lives. You can visit their site HERE.
[/url]
Victims of human [url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/15/1470308/-Flight-attendant-tells-how-she-learned-to-recognize-human-trafficking-and-what-you-can-do]sex trafficking are often right in front of us at truck stops, massage parlors, hotels, salons … they are held captive through coercion, force and threats. There are an estimated 20.9 million victims of human slavery, with 1.5 million in North America. Sex-trafficking is often the most common and most lucrative crime. An estimated $150 billion is made by human traffickers, just under the number one crime of drug trafficking.

TED talk speaker Tony Talbott makes an incredibly disturbing summation about sex trafficking:

Quote:"It's all about the money. Human trafficking is insanely profitable. If you really think about it; Y[u]ou can sell a kilo of Heroin once; You can sell a 13-year-old girl 20 times a night, 365 days a year.”[/u]

In order to attenuate human trafficking, we need national discourse. Share stories like this and others on your personal social networks Much can be prevented through awareness. There are telltale signs all around us. For additional information, visit The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), online which operates 24 hours, 7 days a week. You can also call call 1-888-373-788 or text BeFree (233733). If you suspect any kind of human trafficking, you can submit a tip to DHS or visit: ICE.gov.


http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/6/2...rafficking

[pbrower2a]

Old mark of slavery is being used on sex trafficking victims

By Sara Sidner, CNN

Updated 1400 GMT (2200 HKT) September 1, 2015

(CNN)When Adriana walks into a room, people take notice. Her neon pink dress and pearls could not even come close to her electric persona.

"Before we begin. I want to know -- what do you want from me?" Adriana asked before our interview.
We explained we wanted to hear her story if she wanted to share it.
Minutes later, Adriana giggled so disarmingly that she seemed to turn into a different person. It turns out she may have been trying to do just that.

After an hour of talking, she explained that she often had to pretend to be someone else in order to live the life she'd been living.
A clear sign of that life is tattooed in big bold letters across her chest.

"This right here," she said pointing to her tattoo. "I call it my war wound. I got it when I was 14 years old, and he was one of my pimps," she said.

Adriana's trafficker had persuaded her to have his name tattooed across her chest.

"It lets other pimps know that this is their property," said Vice Sgt. Ron Fisher of the Los Angeles Police Department in Van Nuys. Fisher has seen untold numbers of them as his unit works the streets and the Internet, trying to find underage girls being trafficked.


More here.

It's not about sex: it's about abuse, exploitation, and dehumanization.

[pbrower2a]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/2....290-07:00

The buyers are mostly men who believe or “choose” to believe all prostitutes want to be doing what they do, when in fact, many prostitutes are forced to act happy. If they don’t make the customer’s experience pleasant, their owners/pimps lose business and that may lead to a brutal beating just short of murder. Owners don’t want to kill their slaves if it can be avoided, as “the product” is needed for future sales.
 
Here is an excerpt from one survival story by a victim of sex-trafficking:

Quote:When I ran away, I was a walking target for traffickers and predators who look for damaged children: I had been abused, I was depressed and was in desperate need of help. It didn’t take long for traffickers to find me. Surprisingly it was a couple – a man and a woman – who found me on the streets of Washington D.C. They took me off of the streets where I was hungry and alone and brought me into their home where they fed me and seemed to care for me. That is, until they initiated me into the world of trafficking. They used me for a few months until they no longer needed me and then sold me to another trafficker. Right in our nation’s capitol, I was sold into trafficking to a man named Moses. Soon after buying me, Moses took me to New York City where he trafficked me for 8 years.
During my time on the streets of New York I was abused, shot, stabbed, raped, kidnapped, trafficked, beaten, addicted to drugs, jailed, and more all before I was 18 years old.

There are countless stories like the one above—some even worse. The people who buy young women, girls and boys, or who are receiving human beings as “gifts,” are often just as guilty as the pimps and sellers who will continue to meet that demand and will do so as long as that demand exists. 
So what can we do? Well, the obvious would be not to buy human beings. Don’t buy sex. And if you are going seek a prostitute, then at minimum, pay attention. Learn the signs of human trafficking. Don’t expect a “prostitute” to tell you she’s being sold or beaten, and understand that abuse and torture can be occurring without it showing outwardly. Also, be aware that a captive prostitute is most likely not going to tell you she’s in danger, because if she gets caught she risks severe punishment. She knows you are essentially renting her from her owner, so why would she trust you? Make an anonymous report. 
 
If you are hiring employees or any temporary help, take a few minutes to do some research about the company or the person being hired. If you see someone in a hotel, restaurant, salon … and your gut tells you something is off, it probably is. We can stop human slavery. Know what to look for and learn what to ask possible trafficking. These are small things we can do that can make a big difference. Here are some signs.

Quote:Human Trafficking Indicators
While not an exhaustive list, these are some key red flags that could alert you to a potential trafficking situation that should be reported:

• Living with employer
  
• Poor living conditions
  
• Multiple people in cramped space
  
• Inability to speak to individual alone
  
• Answers appear to be scripted and rehearsed
  
• Employer is holding identity documents
  
• Signs of physical abuse
  
• Submissive or fearful
  
• Unpaid or paid very little
  
• Under 18 and in prostitution
  

Questions to Ask
Assuming you have the opportunity to speak with a potential victim privately and without jeopardizing the victim’s safety because the trafficker is watching, here are some sample questions to ask to follow up on the red flags you became alert to:

• Can you leave your job if you want to?
  
• Can you come and go as you please?
  
• Have you been hurt or threatened if you tried to leave?
  
• Has your family been threatened?
  
• Do you live with your employer?
  
• Where do you sleep and eat?
  
• Are you in debt to your employer?
  
• Do you have your passport/identification? Who has it?
  

For additional information, contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), which operates 24 hours, 7 days a week. Or you can call call 1-888-373-788 or text BeFree (233733). If you suspect any kind of human trafficking, you can also submit a tip. Visit: ICE.gov.

Abductors, pimps, organized crime rings and terrorists will continue to highly profit off of human beings through slavery. By taking action and sharing information, we become part of the solution.

[pbrower2a]

One place where sex trafficking can be stopped: in flight.

Flight attendant tells how she learned to recognize human trafficking and what you can do  


By Leslie Salzillo  
Friday Jan 15, 2016 · 3:24 PM EDT

RSS

It’s time for the Super Bowl and for most that means football, big screens, chips and chili. But with this big event comes a dark side—a surge of the human sex trafficking of girls, boys and young women. American Airlines flight attendant and best-selling author Heather Poole says victims will be brought to the Bay Area, where the big game will be held this year, and victims will be “sold over and over again to men at the game.”
Flight attendants are now trained to recognize human/sex trafficking, and they are asked to volunteer and report possible human trafficking activity to the police during the Super Bowl. Each year people are being arrested due to these coordinated efforts. Poole says, “Airlines employees are the first line of defense for protecting the countless children who are trafficked on major flights each day.” Some of the signs they are told to look for include:

Quote:Can the passenger speak for themselves, or is someone with them controlling what they say? Does the passenger avoid eye contact? Do they appear fearful, anxious, tense, depressed, nervous, submissive? Are they dressed inappropriately, or do they have few possessions — even on a long flight? Can the passenger move independently, or are they accompanied by someone seemingly controlling their every movement.

 One of Heather Poole’s friends joined forces with the founder of a nonprofit organization that fights child exploitation and human trafficking to educate airline employees and create a human trafficking hotline.

 

Quote:The State Department estimates 2 million women and children are victims of human trafficking every year. There are more slaves today than any other time in human history: Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world, second only to drug trafficking. And while drugs can be sold once, a person can be sold several times a day. It’s a business that brings in an estimated $150 billion every year. 

Poole says human trafficking is happening “everywhere, in strip malls across America.”

Quote:Redondo Beach is a very nice town — a very nice town with way too many massage parlors. A Yelp search for massage brings up 88 results in a town covering six square miles.

Poole says, “I just walked into one of our local massage places. Nice inside. But boy did they look shocked to see me. I asked for a pamphlet. Pricing”
After learning more, Heather Poole decided to reach out to her city council. It was her first public speaking meeting and her goal was to help find/prevent/end human trafficking. She started her three-minute speech talking about the signs of a fake massage parlor: Security cameras outside, customers getting buzzed in. Windows covered with bars, boards or dark curtains, employees who rarely leave the location. Friends of Poole’s found it hard to believe human trafficking is happening in their neighborhood.

Quote:Some of my friends drive their children to school down a street where there are 13 massage parlors in the span of two miles. On this same street, the grocery store went out of business, the dentist closed up shop, but all the massage parlors that nobody seems to notice are thriving. Prostitution is one thing — after all, it’s theoretically happening between two consenting adults — but there could be something darker happening here. I don’t care if somebody wants a happy ending. But I do care if somebody forced into captivity is the person giving it to you.
Next time you see a shady looking massage place, notice if the entrance is uninviting, or security cameras are pointing at the door. If the windows are covered with metal bars, ask yourself if the bars are there to keep people out — or to keep them in?

In her extensive Mashable piece, Heather recommends “one of the best articles” she’s read about human trafficking. After reading it, she says, “You’ll never look at a strip mall the same way again.”
You can also learn more about human trafficking via the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).



[url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/15/1470308/-Flight-attendant-tells-how-she-learned-to-recognize-human-trafficking-and-what-you-can-do#comments][/url]

[pbrower2a]

This would all be no less disgusting, were it not for the sexual exploitation, if the people being trafficked were farm or construction laborers.

[pbrower2a]

Thank you, X_4AD_84, for seeing this thread worthy of a comment.

This is distressing material. Even a rescue story implies that people -- especially children -- have been exploited badly.

Sexual trafficking is a vile crime. Many of us are scared to discuss it because we think it is about sex. Sex is only a slight part of it. It's exploitation and abuse; it is denial of what makes life human. Human trafficking even without sex would be disgusting in its own right, whether it were for farm or industrial labor.

I once went to a fast-food restaurant in a shopping mall in Fort Wayne, Indiana... the food was good. But my eyes wandered beyond the counter and saw a list or work rules. One was "no cell phones", so workers are out of touch with anything else while there. Others were rigid rule of conduct on the job. I won't go into the details, except to say that the food wasn't so appealing after I saw those work rules.

Sex trafficking is the worst -- but I can also imagine all the underpaid workers in some businesses.

[pbrower2a]

[/url][url=http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/5/23/1530069/-Two-Tennessee-pastors-included-in-32-arrests-for-human-trafficking-during-undercover-sting]Two Tennessee pastors are among 32 arrested for human trafficking during undercover sting*

Quote: Wrote:“We want anyone responding to these ads to think there may be a TBI Agent on the other end of it.” —Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn 

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), 32 people have been arrested in Knoxville, Tennessee for human trafficking during a 3-day undercover operation : 

Quote: Wrote:KNOXVILLE – A three-day operation by Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and detectives with the Knoxville Police Department to combat human trafficking in Knoxville has resulted in the arrest of 32 men and women on prostitution and human trafficking-related charges. Two of the men, including a children’s minister, responded to ads for what they thought were girls under the age of 18. The Knoxville anti-trafficking operation, called “Operation Someone Like Me”, is the fifth operation of its kind in the state between the TBI and partner agencies to help identify, investigate and prosecute trafficking, and rescue victims.
With the partnership including the Knoxville Police Department, Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking, End Slavery Tennessee, and Second Life Chattanooga, TBI Agents and intelligence analysts embarked on an undercover operation to identify potential victims of trafficking, arrest those seeking to purchase illicit sex from a juvenile, and learn more about the specific nuances of this type of crime.

Human traffickers all around us. If you’re buying or selling, you are part of the $150 billion business — and part of the crime. Two of the men arrested during the sting were church pastors. Jason Kennedy, a pastor for children aged birth through fifth grade at Grace Baptist Church responded to ads soliciting underaged girls. The TBI records say he negotiated a $100 fee for a half hour of sex with two females — one girl being a minor. The other pastor is Zubin Parakh of Lifehouse Church in Oak Ridge, right outside of Knoxville, was also charged for responding to an ad for sex with a female minor. Three hundred contacts were made in response to ads posted on Background.com (a google search shows the site no longer exists).

The Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch calls human trafficking the “scourge on society” and states his department is committed to doing all that’s necessary to protect victims. TBI Assistant Special Agent Margie Quin said:

Quote: Wrote:“We’re changing the conversation about human trafficking. These operations are designed to identify and help victims of trafficking, as well as take these predators off the street.

A public awareness campaign was launched last year in Tennessee called ItHasToStop. The operation also helps identify victims of sex/human trafficking and offers services that include housing, counseling and addiction treatment. 
Here is the WATE.com news video: 

Below are the names of the individuals charged in the human trafficking sting.

Quote: Wrote:(I have removed the names for this post).

As for the victims of human trafficking, many are right in front of us in hotels, airplanes, nail salons, truck stops, in elder care centers ... they are held captive through coercion, force and threats. There are an estimated 20.9 million victims of human slavery, with 1.5 million in North America. Sex-trafficking is often the most common and most lucrative in the business of selling human beings. TED talk speaker Tony Talbott makes an incredibly disturbing summation about sex trafficking:

Quote: Wrote:"It's all about the money. Human trafficking is insanely profitable. If you really think about it; Y[u]ou can sell a kilo of Heroin once; You can sell a 13-year-old girl 20 times a night, 365 days a year.”[/u]

In order to attenuate human trafficking, we need national discourse. Much can be prevented through awareness. For additional information, visit The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), online which operates 24 hours, 7 days a week. You can also call call 1-888-373-788 or text BeFree (233733).  If you suspect any kind of human trafficking, you can submit a tip to DHS or visit: ICE.gov.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/5/23/...over-sting

*This is not an indictment of clergy as a whole. The people involved as traffickers, custody-keepers, and johns fit all ethnic, vocational, and religious divisions of humanity. Or, in view of the crime..."swine-dom"

[pbrower2a]

America is neither the source nor the destination, but that makes it no less objectionable. Africans have typically been treated badly as raw labor or domestic help in America (as if we did not know this) when Africans were shipped here as slaves or bred to be slaves... the transportation is more efficient, but the result for a woman trafficked to certain parts of the Middle East is about the same as for the usual domestic help in the antebellum South. From the BBC:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle...y-employer

Nothing salacious -- only disgusting. I hope that you did not have a heavy meal before clicking the link. If you have, then wait a couple hours before clicking.

[pbrower2a]

Officials: 33 arrested for sex trafficking in Super Bowl sting



With Super Bowl LIII just days away, federal officials have been keeping a fixed eye on concerns of sex trafficking in the metro Atlanta area.

On Wednesday, authorities with Homeland Security said that 33 people have been arrested for sex trafficking during the last four days of active investigation in the Atlanta area. Four people have been recovered to date.

“Our operations are continuing so I won’t go specifically into what we’re doing because we plan to run those operations throughout the rest of the Super Bowl,” said Nick Annan, Atlanta Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations. “We’ve been up and running for the last four days of our operations, but we plan to continue what we’re doing.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said that 1,600 victims were rescued from sex trafficking last year and over 300 people were arrested.

“As you know, unfortunately some of these are networks, so part of what HSI does is work with other federal partners to take down the entire transnational organization,” Nielsen said. “We do have a victim focus and make sure we provide services.”

Atlanta is considered one of the biggest hubs of sex trafficking nationwide. And the illegal business is prominent during major sporting events, according to research.

Right now, the search is on to find missing teenage girls from Atlanta. Some believe they could possibly be sex trafficking victims or vulnerable to become victims. Their families are fearing for their safety.

https://www.bing.com/News/MSNOverlay?url...M%3dCATEBS

(WXIA-TV. NBC-11. Atlanta.)

Comment:

I am guessing that Atlanta is a hub for this crime because of its airport. It is difficult to get from many small Southeastern cities to other parts of America, let alone the world, except through Atlanta.

[Bill the Piper]

I feel the Nordic model could be a solution here. This model penalises men for buying sex, but doesn't punish prostitutes for selling themselves. Destroying demand for prostitution is the best way of destroying the sex slave trade.

This website describes this solution in detail:
http://www.stopdemand.org/

[pbrower2a]

(02-01-2019, 07:15 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote: I feel the Nordic model could be a solution here. This model penalises men for buying sex, but doesn't punish prostitutes for selling themselves. Destroying demand for prostitution is the best way of destroying the sex slave trade.

This website describes this solution in detail:
http://www.stopdemand.org/

The problem is that the United States is not a Nordic country.

Men can be busted for having sex with minors -- and the penalties are severe. A conviction for underage sex can destroy a professional career. The trucking industry is in cooperation with anti-trafficking agencies. If I am the boss, and one of 'my' truck-drivers is busted for prostitution-related offense while driving one of my trucks -- that trucker will not be working for me. Teamsters' Union be damned on  that -- it can find another trucker as a replacement. 'My' truckers would know the rule. Johns are already losing cars after being busted, so it is probably a short time before companies start losing eighteen-wheel trucks and their contents due to such judgments. Nobody gets away with putting my company's assets at risk due to some illegal deed. Owner-operator? Find someone else. You aren't going to put my load at risk of confiscation.

But that is about one demographic that has been infamously connected to the use of prostitutes. For good reason we have plenty of husband-and-wife teams.

Prostitutes obviously need help to find safer ways to make a living. Many need detox, relocation, vocational rehabilitation, and safe housing. They deserve our sympathy.

[pbrower2a]

Let's not ignore a contributing factor, something that makes men callous about sexuality: pornography. I am not discussing simple nudity (a commonplace in well-recognized art) or gentle erotica (the antithesis of sexual abuse) here, which might be controversial. Abusive sexuality degrades women and girls by distorting them into disposable objects for dehumanizing sex.

[pbrower2a]

(02-01-2019, 04:08 PM)taramarie Wrote:

(02-01-2019, 03:28 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Let's not ignore a contributing factor, something that makes men callous about sexuality: pornography. I am not discussing simple nudity (a commonplace in well-recognized art) or gentle erotica (the antithesis of sexual abuse) here, which might be controversial. Abusive sexuality degrades women and girls by distorting them into disposable objects for dehumanizing sex.  

My first attacker was a female who was being apparently sexually abused by her father. My boyfriend was being molested by a female family member. Let us not just mention men because it is not only them and in these cases it was other factors not to do with pornography.

In those cases we have porn as an apparent non-cause: people learning from horrible experience. Many abusers were themselves abused.

[David Horn]

(02-01-2019, 04:08 PM)taramarie Wrote: My first attacker was a female who was being apparently sexually abused by her father. My boyfriend was being molested by a female family member. Let us not just mention men because it is not only them and in these cases it was other factors not to do with pornography.

This is a great point. Since most abuse is inflicted by males on females, we shouldn't assume that applies all the time. Blindness to all the other scenarios often makes them invisible to everyone but the victims.

[Bill the Piper]

Porn industry is a bastard child of the sexual revolution and unregulated capitalism.

[David Horn]

(02-02-2019, 02:24 PM)taramarie Wrote: I wonder about those statistics sometimes tbh. Given that males have such shaming and backlash and cruel treatment from others if they admit to being molested or raped by women. Many keep quiet. Kind of like they keep quiet about how they feel if they are unhappy about the fact they were circumcised.

Having been circumcised as an infant, along with the overwhelming majority of Boomer males, I can't say it makes me unhappy … or happy either, for that matter.

[Hintergrund]

And the fish is definitely stinking from the head. No, this isn't about Pizzagate, it's older and proven (although many people don't like to talk about it):

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/articl...efore.html
Long story short, "philosophers" Sartre and Beauvoir abused many teenager girls as early as in the 1940s - and later, they were celebrated like cult leaders, appropriately. - They also advocated liberating child rapists and removing age-of-consent laws.

https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2011/10/3/...eration/4/
"Jean Paul Sartre’s pimp-consort Simone de Beauvoir"

[pbrower2a]

The story originates in the New York Times, which has never been prone to yellow journalism. But this story explains some of the weird behavior of Jeffrey Epstein, who apparently saw himself as the progenitor of some 'super-race'. (A hint: if your surname is Epstein, you might be rightly wary of the concept of any 'super-race', in view of what such a concept does in the sick minds of people who consider people of his origin suited only for slaughter). The NYT is behind a paywall, but the Guardian is not, so I will give you the take in the Guardian:


Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier accused of sex trafficking, planned to develop an improved super-race of humans using genetic engineering and artificial intelligence, according to the New York Times.

In the aftermath of his 2008 sex trafficking conviction, Epstein hoped to seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women at his ranch in New Mexico, one of his properties where young women, including minors, were allegedly abused, the newspaper reported in a major investigation.


Jeffrey Epstein appears in court for first time since reported jail injuries



Though there is little evidence the scheme ever progressed beyond fantasy, prominent scientists, including the late Stephen Hawking, regularly attended dinners, lunches and conferences held by Epstein, the Times said.

Epstein has long been accused of sexually abusing underage girls. He also has purported connections to Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, and moved in elite social circles in New York, Florida and elsewhere.

He is currently in jail after being arrested on 6 July. He pleaded not guilty several weeks ago.

Epstein’s plans around his own progeny began to be talked about in the early 2000s, according to three sources contacted by the Times.
“Epstein told scientists and businessmen about his ambitions to use his New Mexico ranch as a base where women would be inseminated with his sperm and would give birth to his babies … Mr Epstein’s goal was to have 20 women at a time impregnated at his 33,000-sq-ft Zorro Ranch in a tiny town outside Santa Fe,” the Times said.

Epstein’s field of study was labeled “transhumanism” but was an updated version of eugenics. Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who defended Epstein in 2008 and has been named in a civil suit brought by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, told the Times he was appalled by the financier’s interest in genetic manipulation, given the Nazis’ use of eugenics in the 1930s.

“Everyone speculated about whether these scientists were more interested in his views or more interested in his money,” Dershowitz told the Times.

According to the paper, Epstein’s circle included the molecular engineer George Church; Murray Gell-Mann, the discover of the quark; the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould; the neurologist and author Oliver Sacks; and the theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek.
On one occasion, Epstein held a lunch at Harvard’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, a program he had helped fund with a $6.5m donation. In 2011, he gave $20,000 to the Worldwide Transhumanist Association, a project that now operates as Humanity Plus.
The Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker said he considered Epstein as an “intellectual impostor”.

“He would abruptly change the subject, ADD-style, dismiss an observation with an adolescent wisecrack,” Pinker told the paper. The virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier said Epstein’s ideas did not rise to science that could be subjected to critical analysis.

The scientific community, like Trump and much of New York and Palm Beach society, would sooner forget their association with Epstein.
Humanity Plus vice-chairman Ben Goertzel, whose salary was once paid by Epstein, told the Times: “I have no desire to talk about Epstein right now. The stuff I’m reading about him in the papers is pretty disturbing and goes way beyond what I thought his misdoings and kinks were. Yecch.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019...ace-report

Yecch, indeed.

[sbarrera]

Leave it to a Boomer to want to create a master race via some technological fantasy. At least Kurzweil only wants to help everyone live forever. (Sorry to pick on your generation, there, pbrower).