There has been a fair amount of talk recently about David Sabatini, an MIT scientist, whose mug is shown here. Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is now financing his research. According to the local paper of MIT, the Boston Globe , Sabatini is "a biologist who once generated Nobel Prize buzz." Before going any further into the reason for the recent talk: what was the reason for the Nobel Prize buzz that preceded it "once"? It involved the study of rapamycin, a natural antibiotic found in the soil of Easter Island. In 2009, Sabatini received the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research for the study of rapamycin's anti-tumor effects. The more recent development? Two years ago the University investigated charges of sexual harrassment by Sabatini and he was placed on leave. The investigators concluded that Sabatini had violated its policies and it recommended his tenure be revoked. He said in essence "you can't fire me, I quit." Now (so says the Boston G...
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One day before the sudden death of Jeff Epstein (I refuse to call it a suicide before evidence to that effect is made public), one heard of the unsealing of a lot of the records that led to Epstein's imprisonment and so, likely, through one causal link or another, to his death. THAT material, unsealed, showed that the late Marvin Minsky, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was one of the clients to whom Epstein allegedly trafficked underaged girls. Minsky can no longer be hurt by this disclosure. He has been dead for three years. It is worth saying here too what I said in connection with John Searle not long ago, although the two are on opposite sides of at least one philosophically important debate: No wrong Minsky may have committed diminishes the value of his contributions to cognitive science, philosophy of mind, and related fields. Minsky was on the faculty at MIT from 1958 until his death, which is a heck of a time to stay at one job. He was a pionee...