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Negroponte also defends taking the money in a meeting at MIT on Wednesday (https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614264/mit-media-lab-jeffrey-epstein-joi-ito-nicho
by Jun8 7y ago
Negroponte also defends taking the money in a meeting at MIT on Wednesday (https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614264/mit-media-lab-jeffrey-epstein-joi-ito-nicholas-negroponte-funding-sex-abuse/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614264/mit-media-lab-jeff...):
"Throughout, the meeting had proceeded calmly. But as one of the organizers began to wrap things up, Negroponte stood up, unprompted, and began to speak. He discussed his privilege as a “rich white man” and how he had used that privilege to break into the social circles of billionaires. It was these connections, he said, that had allowed the Media Lab to be the only place at MIT that could afford to charge no tuition, pay people full salaries, and allow researchers to keep their intellectual property. "
- heymijo 7y agoWhich he then backpedaled on after this blew up on social media. The authors of the article went back to him for clarification and he walked it back. The people in attendance for his original remarks called BS on him walking it back.
- sp332 7y agoThe clarification was just about whether he would recommend taking the money again knowing what he knows now vs knowing what he knew then. It's less inflammatory but still divisive.
- bigj0n 7y ago> He discussed his privilege as a "rich white man" I know you're just quoting the article, but it feels sort of slanderous to include this detail without the proper context.
- inflatableDodo 7y agoThe Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas - https://www.utilitarianism.com/nu/omelas.pdf https://www.utilitarianism.com/nu/omelas.pdf
- specialist 7y agoTerrific. Thank you. I wish I had studied philosophy. I recently learned (from HN) about the Copenhagen Effect. It helped me to think about why attempts to help, then they are not entirely successful, often get criticized harshly. I am looking for a layperson's guide to ethical theories. I first imagined a 20 questions style game. Given hypothetical ethic conundrums, the student answers questions, leading to a strategy. Like with interactive fiction, the student can explore different choices. This corpus could be built organically, over time (1). This short story you shared suggests another idea. Something like China Miéville meets Gulliver's Travels. Where Gulliver encounters various societies faced with the same ethical dilemma and how they responded. It's probably silly to think so vast as belief systems can be so easily summarized. But maybe it could be useful start. (1) Much like the Apple ][ educational game called Animals, which tried to guess the animal you're thinking of, and add new ones. Gah, I can't find a link.
- goto11 7y agoWhat is the Copenhagen Effect?
- specialist 7y agoOops. Correct phrase is "Copenhagen Interpretation of Ethics". Thank you for the nudge. https://blog.jaibot.com/the-copenhagen-interpretation-of-ethics/ https://blog.jaibot.com/the-copenhagen-interpretation-of-eth... https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=Copenhagen%20Interpretation%20of%20ethics&sort=byPopularity&type=all https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
- Jun8 7y agoApplied Ethics is a great book, though a bit pricey: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0198750676 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0198750676 Ethics In The Real World is good, too: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30272030-ethics-in-the-real-world https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30272030-ethics-in-the-r...
- tamizhar 7y ago> Negroponte also defends taking the money > his privilege as a “rich white man” Negroponte also goes around demanding people refer to him as the father of the netbook. This is not the first time Negroponte has destroyed institutions. Media Lab Asia was a disaster. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/71fe/5e987a89dfb7a6e7dbb3dd152ef6959d1ecd.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/71fe/5e987a89dfb7a6e7dbb3dd... OLPC was an unmitigated disaster, not just for Negroponte but also for the world. The level of wastage of money at all levels. Just incredible.
- heymijo 7y agoOLPC is One Laptop Per Child for those unaware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child#Criticism
- inflatableDodo 7y ago>'Negroponte also goes around demanding people refer to him as the father of the netbook.' I'd go with a strategy of malicious compliance on that one. Though I would probably add some extra titles as time went on. Any suggestions?