Dear Joscha, my heart is heavy monitoring your experience from afar.
Your friends are here in a circle around you. You are safe. Stay strong!
We know who you are (one of the most beautiful and innocent minds) and we love you and care for you, in spite of this dark shadow that has touched you and your family's wellbeing, once and now.
Please remember: There is an island inside yourself where you are safe.
No matter what. Your breath takes you there whenever necessary. Follow your breath.
I wrote the first post in the middle of the storm after the first email drop. There are no new allegations in the recent emails. In fact, there is absolutely nothing illegal that I am alleged of having done, having known of or having been accessory to. It was always publicly known that I had received funding from Epstein. But there were dozens of new news articles, in large part because while the Epstein mails created a lot of interest, they did not provide the revelations that many had hoped for, and writing defamatory stories about actually rich and powerful people is considered off-limits for most journalists.
I appreciate your comment and hope you are telling the truth about all allegations already being public.
However, the public is very much skeptical of anyone who was affiliated with a Bond-level villain. You must understand funding research "for his own curiosity" sounds highly unlikely. Let's not forget you yourself discussed some not so nice things. Other intellectuals have casually discussed eugenics, designer babies, planned pandemics or great reset-types of global strategies (things I previously regarded as utterly fictional). There's still millions of files to be published in the future after all, so let's wait.
As a longtime follower of your work, having listened to every podcast and YouTube appearance you’ve ever done, I genuinely hope you’re able to move past this and bring your voice back to the world. Your perspective is truly one of a kind, and it has profoundly shaped how I see a wide range of topics. I’m sure many others would agree.
Joscha, been following your interviews and talks with great interest for several years now. Apart from being genuinely informative and exciting, your content helps with giving structure and improving my own mental models. I sincerely hope you survive the effects of cancel culture.
I can say only that your unfettered and insightful mind has brought joy to my life.
At the risk of sharing something cliche, the following words of Jung seem relevant:
“An old alchemist gave the following consolation to one of his disciples: “No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.” - Carl Jung
Oh Joscha, I put you on too high of a pedestal I guess. I am sad to see that you are human and make mistakes like the rest of us after all! I do hope that nothing dodgy comes up on you. This storm will pass.
Having said this, somebody replied to me here, but I can no longer see his comment to reply to him. He pointed out something to me from your interview. I did read the interview but my brain I guess chose not to register that particular point, but it does now. Where is your INTEGRITY man? You knew he did these things, but you needed the money?? Without going into personal details, I presently am homeless and penniless in a foreign country and I could've changed this with a number of opportunities that came my way if I did not have any integrity, but I refused to go down those paths (but none involved taking money from a guy I knew did such things to children). So why did you?
I posted this on Bluesky, i know it won't make a difference, but i'm thinking about forgiveness in this digital media environment for quite some time now. Stay strong!
Joscha Bach, one of the most original thinkers in AI research, did an interview with german newspaper Die Zeit, and published an english translation: ["I had a feeling that Epstein had a dark heart"](https://joscha.substack.com/p/i-had-a-feeling-that-epstein-had)
Epstein is the ultimate nuclear guilt-by-association bomb. Guilt by association is a problem in a networked society in which the introduction of a single software (Facebook) [shrank the "degrees of bacon"](https://research.facebook.com/blog/2016/2/three-and-a-half-degrees-of-separation/) (the number of nodes in the global network of all humans which connect you to Kevin Bacon - a play on the more scientific "degree of seperation") by a recognizable amount.
In such a world, a highly connected billionaire pedo pimp who also finances the work of highly influencial researchers at some of the globally most recognized institutions (MIT) is nothing but a nuclear blast. "I'm in the Epstein files" already became it's own posting subgenre.
Digital media is and always was a media ecology of suspicion, where who you connect with supposedly reveals who you are, and what you think. The problem here is that this kind of thinking is usually *correct*, because many if not most of the times, for the hypersocial animal, it *does* reveal who we are and what we think. This is just another dimension of where our minds, evolved under very different media ecologies, go haywire in a hyperconnected world. Ambient suspicion, paranoia and peer surveillance is the result. Byung-Chul Hans "Transparency society" is about exactly this: How visibility creates control and totalitarianism.
Now drop the Epstein files into that world. It's no wonder in no-time all kinds of tools for convenient searching through the files sprung up, just for everyone to check about everybody else if they are in the files, and in which context. The Epstein files are peer surveillance pressure maxxing, and, frankly, there is not much that can be done, because the guy *was* a child traffiker and a pedo pimp, and you can't say that any other way. I do believe Bach or Chomsky when they say that they had no clue about the extremes. (I don't believe Trump. You can read the file the DOJ redacted, it's damning to such a degree that i'm 100% sure that Trump is a child rapist, and i suspect worse.)
I remember very well more than 10 years ago, when i was in one of my drunk rant moods on Twitter, where i spent a whole while posting about the lack of psychological mechanisms for forgiveness in this media ecology.
Nothing changed, including my refusal to not go where many of you are. I refuse groupthink, and i refuse guilt by association.
This is why i accept Bach's public apologies and keep following the guy: because i do believe in forgiveness.
Life is extremely complicated, and difficult. I wish you and your family well, and I understand why people would be so upset with the association. One of my worries about this is actually the opportunity cost of these issues. We have limited attention, and as far as justice for those wronged by him and his associates, that limited attention is largely wasted on people like you who, we're affiliated, but not involved in that facet of his life. There's dozens, if not hundreds of people whose association with him would be more fruitful in terms of justice for victims.
We cannot change the past, and so here we are. Neither forgiveness nor condemnation are mine to give here, but I still feel it worth saying that your perspective on life, and the world, at least as I've understood it through your interviews and lectures online have changed my life for the better.
I am guessing the contents of the initial emails that were revealed (and which are, I suspect, the main reason for the intensity of online abuse) were off-limits as a condition of giving this interview...? Not a whisper about that.
Me personally - I think it must be self-evidently so that Epstein must have been a charming, interesting and generally agreeable character - you don't end up with so may powerful friends if you're an obnoxious asshole. Clearly, the man must have had no small supply of personal appeal.
But we all know that what one is during the day... rarely reveals much about what we might become at night. It is perhaps the most invisible and indiscernible trait of all. That don't make it right, of course... but it is certainly not implausible that quite a few of his "elite" associates and friends genuinely had no clue or reason to believe he engaged in abusing minors in his massage dungeon :/
Thanks for sharing. Fascinating how this flawed and hated man changed the fates of so many and was used by so many to achieve their ends... I've parsed the files and, as far as you, there's really nothing to be up in arms over imo... in this interview though, you say you respect Chomsky? Since when?! I often considered him a charlatan, a pied piper for fools, your antithesis!
I know exactly what you are talking about! Have read Virginia's memoir and I personally know someone who survived human trafficking as a child. It's about time that those who know details come up and speak. Transparency and Justice for those who suffered abuse!
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes the rose.
~ Bette Midler
Dear Joscha, my heart is heavy monitoring your experience from afar.
Your friends are here in a circle around you. You are safe. Stay strong!
We know who you are (one of the most beautiful and innocent minds) and we love you and care for you, in spite of this dark shadow that has touched you and your family's wellbeing, once and now.
Please remember: There is an island inside yourself where you are safe.
No matter what. Your breath takes you there whenever necessary. Follow your breath.
This, too, shall pass.
From Germany,
one of your friends
Silke
Well said !
The timing of his previous article, just two months before the Epstein file drop, strikes me as curious. As if a defense came before the allegations.
I wrote the first post in the middle of the storm after the first email drop. There are no new allegations in the recent emails. In fact, there is absolutely nothing illegal that I am alleged of having done, having known of or having been accessory to. It was always publicly known that I had received funding from Epstein. But there were dozens of new news articles, in large part because while the Epstein mails created a lot of interest, they did not provide the revelations that many had hoped for, and writing defamatory stories about actually rich and powerful people is considered off-limits for most journalists.
I appreciate your comment and hope you are telling the truth about all allegations already being public.
However, the public is very much skeptical of anyone who was affiliated with a Bond-level villain. You must understand funding research "for his own curiosity" sounds highly unlikely. Let's not forget you yourself discussed some not so nice things. Other intellectuals have casually discussed eugenics, designer babies, planned pandemics or great reset-types of global strategies (things I previously regarded as utterly fictional). There's still millions of files to be published in the future after all, so let's wait.
Release ALL the files
As a longtime follower of your work, having listened to every podcast and YouTube appearance you’ve ever done, I genuinely hope you’re able to move past this and bring your voice back to the world. Your perspective is truly one of a kind, and it has profoundly shaped how I see a wide range of topics. I’m sure many others would agree.
Joscha, been following your interviews and talks with great interest for several years now. Apart from being genuinely informative and exciting, your content helps with giving structure and improving my own mental models. I sincerely hope you survive the effects of cancel culture.
Joscha,
I can say only that your unfettered and insightful mind has brought joy to my life.
At the risk of sharing something cliche, the following words of Jung seem relevant:
“An old alchemist gave the following consolation to one of his disciples: “No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.” - Carl Jung
Friends but also perhaps solace.
All respect to you, sir.
Oh Joscha, I put you on too high of a pedestal I guess. I am sad to see that you are human and make mistakes like the rest of us after all! I do hope that nothing dodgy comes up on you. This storm will pass.
Having said this, somebody replied to me here, but I can no longer see his comment to reply to him. He pointed out something to me from your interview. I did read the interview but my brain I guess chose not to register that particular point, but it does now. Where is your INTEGRITY man? You knew he did these things, but you needed the money?? Without going into personal details, I presently am homeless and penniless in a foreign country and I could've changed this with a number of opportunities that came my way if I did not have any integrity, but I refused to go down those paths (but none involved taking money from a guy I knew did such things to children). So why did you?
This is absolutely insane
I posted this on Bluesky, i know it won't make a difference, but i'm thinking about forgiveness in this digital media environment for quite some time now. Stay strong!
https://bsky.app/profile/rawx.bsky.social/post/3mepy7iiltc2c
Joscha Bach, one of the most original thinkers in AI research, did an interview with german newspaper Die Zeit, and published an english translation: ["I had a feeling that Epstein had a dark heart"](https://joscha.substack.com/p/i-had-a-feeling-that-epstein-had)
Epstein is the ultimate nuclear guilt-by-association bomb. Guilt by association is a problem in a networked society in which the introduction of a single software (Facebook) [shrank the "degrees of bacon"](https://research.facebook.com/blog/2016/2/three-and-a-half-degrees-of-separation/) (the number of nodes in the global network of all humans which connect you to Kevin Bacon - a play on the more scientific "degree of seperation") by a recognizable amount.
In such a world, a highly connected billionaire pedo pimp who also finances the work of highly influencial researchers at some of the globally most recognized institutions (MIT) is nothing but a nuclear blast. "I'm in the Epstein files" already became it's own posting subgenre.
Digital media is and always was a media ecology of suspicion, where who you connect with supposedly reveals who you are, and what you think. The problem here is that this kind of thinking is usually *correct*, because many if not most of the times, for the hypersocial animal, it *does* reveal who we are and what we think. This is just another dimension of where our minds, evolved under very different media ecologies, go haywire in a hyperconnected world. Ambient suspicion, paranoia and peer surveillance is the result. Byung-Chul Hans "Transparency society" is about exactly this: How visibility creates control and totalitarianism.
Now drop the Epstein files into that world. It's no wonder in no-time all kinds of tools for convenient searching through the files sprung up, just for everyone to check about everybody else if they are in the files, and in which context. The Epstein files are peer surveillance pressure maxxing, and, frankly, there is not much that can be done, because the guy *was* a child traffiker and a pedo pimp, and you can't say that any other way. I do believe Bach or Chomsky when they say that they had no clue about the extremes. (I don't believe Trump. You can read the file the DOJ redacted, it's damning to such a degree that i'm 100% sure that Trump is a child rapist, and i suspect worse.)
I remember very well more than 10 years ago, when i was in one of my drunk rant moods on Twitter, where i spent a whole while posting about the lack of psychological mechanisms for forgiveness in this media ecology.
Nothing changed, including my refusal to not go where many of you are. I refuse groupthink, and i refuse guilt by association.
This is why i accept Bach's public apologies and keep following the guy: because i do believe in forgiveness.
Life is extremely complicated, and difficult. I wish you and your family well, and I understand why people would be so upset with the association. One of my worries about this is actually the opportunity cost of these issues. We have limited attention, and as far as justice for those wronged by him and his associates, that limited attention is largely wasted on people like you who, we're affiliated, but not involved in that facet of his life. There's dozens, if not hundreds of people whose association with him would be more fruitful in terms of justice for victims.
We cannot change the past, and so here we are. Neither forgiveness nor condemnation are mine to give here, but I still feel it worth saying that your perspective on life, and the world, at least as I've understood it through your interviews and lectures online have changed my life for the better.
I am guessing the contents of the initial emails that were revealed (and which are, I suspect, the main reason for the intensity of online abuse) were off-limits as a condition of giving this interview...? Not a whisper about that.
Me personally - I think it must be self-evidently so that Epstein must have been a charming, interesting and generally agreeable character - you don't end up with so may powerful friends if you're an obnoxious asshole. Clearly, the man must have had no small supply of personal appeal.
But we all know that what one is during the day... rarely reveals much about what we might become at night. It is perhaps the most invisible and indiscernible trait of all. That don't make it right, of course... but it is certainly not implausible that quite a few of his "elite" associates and friends genuinely had no clue or reason to believe he engaged in abusing minors in his massage dungeon :/
Thanks for sharing. Fascinating how this flawed and hated man changed the fates of so many and was used by so many to achieve their ends... I've parsed the files and, as far as you, there's really nothing to be up in arms over imo... in this interview though, you say you respect Chomsky? Since when?! I often considered him a charlatan, a pied piper for fools, your antithesis!
I signed.
I know exactly what you are talking about! Have read Virginia's memoir and I personally know someone who survived human trafficking as a child. It's about time that those who know details come up and speak. Transparency and Justice for those who suffered abuse!