Elite credentials alone let accomplished people pass off obvious nonsense to wealthy philanthropists

Evidence

Even as whispers of wrongdoing persisted, Epstein used his wealth and mystique to pull more people into his network. Harvard psychologist Stephen Kosslyn relayed a story about conducting an experiment on Tibetan monks with Epstein in the room, where “Jeff was on his cell phone most of the time—he actually wanted to short the Tibetan market, because he thought the monk was so stupid. He is amazing.” (There is no “Tibetan market” to short.) Others, like Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, eventually saw through the charade: “He couldn’t really or had very little interest in exploring an issue. He’d wisecrack, change subjects, or get bored after a few seconds.” And as investigative reporter Gabriel Sherman concluded, “If you actually really engaged this guy, he was full of shit.” But he had money, and that was enough for most people to overlook the obvious flimflam. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 581

Categorization

• SHARE: The detail of Epstein wanting to short a nonexistent ‘Tibetan market’ because he thought a monk stupid is a wonderfully specific absurdity to send to someone interested in con artistry.
• XREF: connects to: Elite economists were to serve patrons, not students, peers, or truth — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 158