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Why was Jeffrey Epstein obsessed with genes? In the latest tranche of Epstein records and emails made available by the Department of Justice, themes of genes, genetics, and IQ—alongside more explicit threads of white supremacy—keep cropping up, often adjacent to Epstein’s fascination with steering research in the biological sciences.
Those newly released emails include a February 2016 correspondence with Noam Chomsky in which Epstein insists on a genetic basis for Black and white differences in test scores—using it as a springboard to advocate for wider genetic editing. Practically impossible, Chomsky replies—and if it could be done, the best use would be “changing the genes for dedicated savagery and lack of concern for the welfare or even security of the population on the part of that [sector] of educated elite that reaches positions of power.”
“Agreed,” Epstein wrote. “Genetic altruism.”
Epstein’s language, perhaps influenced by that of biologist Richard Dawkins—whose own interest in eugenics, altruism, and selfishness shows some compatibility—echoes Silicon Valley’s beloved “effective altruism,” another faux altruism built on dreams of harem bunkers for the super-rich. But then, Epstein had...
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