61: Eric Weinstein Part 1, The Secret Seminar

We return, apologetic for the delay, with the next part of our investigation into the Weinstein brothers (no, the other ones).  This time, it's Eric - mathematician, hedgefund manager, cultural commentator, founder of the Intellectual Dark Web (or at least of the name), and persecuted/suppressed victim of conspiracies (to hear him tell it anyway).  We don't always cover Nazis.  Sometimes we have to cover people like Eric who, while not Nazis, are part of the current reactionary ecosystem.  And what a part he is.  More about Eric, particularly his connection to Peter Thiel, next week.

Content Warnings, as ever.

Notes/Links:

Eric Weinstein website: https://ericweinstein.org/

Eric Weinstein YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/nobani88

Eric Weinstein CV: http://www.eric-weinstein.net/CV/Eric_Weinstein_CV_July_17_2003.pdf

Eric-Weinstein.net About Page: http://www.eric-weinstein.net/about.html

"During my training in pure mathematics, I became equally interested in real world problems. While much of the challenge in research mathematics revolves around the specialized tools needed to attack narrowly defined problems, as a consultant, I sometimes find it more rewarding to find a toolkit that has already been developed elsewhere, and adapt those tools to attack the problem at hand. While I am always open to the idea of using recently developed or highly advanced analytic tools, I have often found that it is often in the partner/client’s best interest to use fundamental results which, while central in another field, may be less familiar in the area at hand."

Michael Phillips, "Scholars Facing Joblessness Seek Curbs on Immigration" The Wall Street Journal September 4, 1996. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB84178634524002500

""We remain a fiercely merit-oriented, antixenophobic community, but the current situation knows no precedent," wrote Harvard-trained mathematician Eric Weinstein and 20 other scholars in a recent plea to Capitol Hill.

[...]

"The U.S. mathematicians allege that foreign scholars take many of the best research jobs, reducing salaries and forcing Americans into non-tenure-track positions or lower-quality schools. Since 1976, "universities have been using the immigration exemptions to import a labor force of foreign scientists at greatly decreased cost," wrote Mr. Weinstein, who is a non-tenure-track postdoctoral fellow at MIT." "

"Eric Weinstein's Harvard Story -- The System Breaks Down in Novel Situations." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgGZMRJ15oY

The Verdict With Ted Cruz, "A Portal into the Progressive Mind." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CCde6TAKdw

James O'Keefe on the Portal, Episode 26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31CvsBlKGYg&t=4514s

Eric Weinstein, "Lynching, Police Brutality, BLM and Defunding the Police." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfAumoTIeik

Dennis Overbye, "They Tried to Outsmart Wall Street," The New York Times March 9, 2009: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/science/10quant.html

" “I regard quants to be the good guys,” said Eric R. Weinstein, a mathematical physicist who runs the Natron Group, a hedge fund in Manhattan. “We did try to warn people,” he said. “This is a crisis caused by business decisions. This isn’t the result of pointy-headed guys from fancy schools who didn’t understand volatility or correlation.” "

Bret Weinstein on The Portal, Episode 19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLb5hZLw44s

"Of Mice and Men: Unseen Dangers in Laboratory Protocols" https://www.huffpost.com/entry/of-mice-and-men-unseen-da_b_1352201

r/IntellectualDarkWeb thread on the claims in The Portal 19. https://www.reddit.com/r/IntellectualDarkWeb/comments/erochq/can_we_verify_the_claims_made_in_portal_19/

"Lab Mice Telomeres Do Not Break Them as Disease Models" https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2020/06/lab-mice-telomeres-do-not-break-them-as-disease-models.html

Uberfeminist, "Eric Weinstein is an awful person." http://uberfeminist.blogspot.com/2020/02/eric-weinstein-is-awful-person.html

Uberfeminist, "Eric Weinstein's Conspiracy Theories." http://uberfeminist.blogspot.com/2020/03/eric-weinsteins-conspiracy-theories.html

Chris Kavanagh livetweet of THe Portal 19: https://twitter.com/C_Kavanagh/status/1218579021698494464

The Vox interview which so fascinated / annoyed Jack: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/25/15998002/eric-weinstein-capitalism-socialism-revolution

Rowan Fortune's very complimentary write-up of IDSG, complete with Rowan's own insights: https://www.timetomutiny.org/post/i-don-t-speak-german-on-fascist-subcultures