Famed computer scientist Richard Stallman has resigned from his position at MIT over recent comments he made concerning Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. He has also resigned as president of the Free Software Foundation, an organization Stallman founded in 1985, as well as from its board of directors. Stallman is perhaps best known for having initiated the development of the GNU operating system in 1983, as well as for his work campaigning for the use of free software.
Last week it emerged that Stallman had cast doubt upon the reports that AI pioneer Marvin Minsky had sexually assaulted one of Epstein’s victims. In an email chain sent to the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) mailing list that was published by Motherboard, Stallman said that “the most plausible scenario” was that Epstein’s victim “presented herself to [Marvin Minsky] as entirely willing.”
Stallman also described the distinction between a 17 or 18 year old victim as a “minor” detail, and suggested that it was an “injustice” to refer to it as a “sexual assault.” The emails first came to light after MIT alum Selam Jie Gano posted about them on Medium, and she said they would have been seen by undergraduates who are themselves 17 or 18.
“I am resigning effective immediately from my position in CSAIL at MIT,” Stallman wrote in a blog post, “I am doing this due to pressure on MIT and me over a series of misunderstandings and mischaracterizations.” Stallman has been affiliated with MIT since 1971, when he first became a programmer at the university’s Artificial Intelligence Lab.
“On September 16, 2019, Richard M. Stallman, founder and president of the Free Software Foundation, resigned as president and from its board of directors,” the Free Software Foundation wrote in a separate statement on its website.
Stallman’s resignation comes as MIT grapples with its ties to Epstein, who donated as much as $800,000 to university related projects over the years. MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito resigned from the organization earlier this month after it emerged that he had gone to significant lengths to conceal Epstein’s donations, often marking them as anonymous in internal records. A group of prominent academics had previously signed a letter in support of Ito.
Comments
Resigning for this and not getting fired for his own utterly disturbing and disgusting views on "willing" paedophilia? MIT has set the bar so low, even the devil is looking down.
By twreckx on 09.17.19 6:24am
He was probably asked to resign. Saying stupid and even horrible rationalisations because you can’t believe one of your friends did horrible stuff is sadly rather common.
Don’t really understand your point here
By dEcmir on 09.17.19 7:48am
Yeah, I’m thinking twreckx doesn’t understand how things work. They surely offered to let him resign rather than be fired and that protects MIT. It only makes sense and accomplishes the same thing without any potential legal/monetary consequences for MIT. I mean why should MIT have to suffer for this guys bad statements when they don’t represent the views of MIT?
By Porcupine-Tree on 09.17.19 8:12am
Are you sure allowing him to resign protects MIT?
it clearly protects MIT from possible claims from Stallman but, on the other hand, firing him would distance the institution from his positions.
By echomrg on 09.17.19 9:28am
Why would MIT suffer as a result of firing him? No seriously, why? I’m struggling to think which court of law would penalize an employer for getting rid of an employee that has publicly made statements defending and advocating for pedophilia.
By Triple Creme on 09.17.19 12:19pm
It protects MIT from Stallman (or someone suing on his behalf) saying he was unfairly dismissed without "due process" (i.e. a lengthy investigation) and possibly suing for loss benefits/earnings or something.
He would probably lose, but MIT then would have to legally deal with BOTH people angry at Stallman AND more angry defenders of Stallman for years going forward.
By android_alpaca on 09.18.19 4:31pm
He made those comments WELL before his defense of his friend.
By twreckx on 09.17.19 11:23am
Protip: When it comes to pedophilia and pedophiles, just STFU if you feel your statement could be ‘mischaracterized’ in any way.
By GalenEri on 09.17.19 8:07am
Stallman has a storied history of saying fucked up things about pedophilia.
By martyparty69 on 09.17.19 8:49am
Yeah, he’s had these views for a long time and folks just ignored it because he’s Stallman. The guy has basically got worshippers.
By Bluegrass Geek on 09.17.19 9:18am
That is quality life advice. Amazing how it seems to elude some allegedly smart people.
By neilw on 09.17.19 10:21am
Ooof, read about this dude on wikia pages referenced in the Medium post mentioned in the article (never heard about him before today). What a "colourful" character he is.
By CitizenEldar on 09.17.19 8:23am
Wave of McCarthyism continues… Stallman statements have been misrepresented in disgusting ways.
By wagaf on 09.17.19 9:53am
Direct. Quote.
https://stallman.org/archives/2006-mar-jun.html#05%20June%202006%20(Dutch%20paedophiles%20form%20political%20party)
By trost79muh on 09.17.19 10:34am
@trost79muh
Thank you
By Joneskind on 09.17.19 11:54am
Definitely shocking comments, however that’s not why Stallman is leaving MIT.
Even if I don’t agree at all with his point of view, that doesn’t make him a predator, a rapist or a pedophile.
By wagaf on 09.17.19 12:40pm
I mean….those statements certainly reveal who he is tho.
That’s like me saying I don’t believe every insert ethnic group is equal to another because statistics about IQ levels around the world reveal there are disparities.
Would you say I’m a xenophobic racist/white supremacist OR instead say you don’t agree at all with my point of view, but it doesn’t make me a xenophobic racist/white supremacist?
By Buff Minorcan on 09.17.19 1:11pm
Your implied assumption that a hypothetical comparison of IQ statistics would naturally favor white people is a little weird. Is it fair to say that your statement here reveals who you are?
By tanil on 09.17.19 2:23pm
That’s my point.
By Buff Minorcan on 09.17.19 3:05pm
Wait, so you really are a white supremacist? Because in your scenario, whites would naturally come out ahead in an IQ comparison.
By tanil on 09.17.19 7:39pm
Stop. You make no sense
By amazingMic on 09.18.19 8:49am
You the only one sounding like a white supremacist around here.
By Buff Minorcan on 09.18.19 12:12pm
No one is accusing Stallman of being a predator, so I’m not sure why you’d even bring this up.
He’s leaving MIT because he wrote that even if Marvin Minsky had sex with a minor, that he does not believe that it was wrong because the minor was "willing". This has moved from a "shocking comment" to giving cover to a specific (alleged) act of sexual assault.
Remember, Stallman himself wrote that he had no reason to believe that Minsky did not have sex with a minor.
By trost79muh on 09.17.19 7:24pm
I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Linux,
is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux.
Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component
of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell
utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day,
without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU
which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are
not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a
part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system
that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run.
The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself;
it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is
normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system
is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux"
distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.
By Demios on 09.17.19 10:51am