The Scientific Institute That Fascinated Jeffrey Epstein
PHOTO BY ALEX WROBLEWSKI / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
By Jackie Appel, Investigative Reporter
Jeffrey Epstein liked dynamics he could control and understand, most heinously illustrated by his systematic trafficking and abuse of more than 1,000 women and girls over the course of his adult life. But his urge to shape the world around him as he saw fit extended to many other areas of his life, such as his dealings with world-renowned scientific experts and institutions.
Epstein was famously interested in scientists, particularly those who operated on the fringes and at the cutting edge of their fields. Perhaps nowhere was this more evident than in his connection to the Santa Fe Institute, a prominent independent research center in Sante Fe, New Mexico,, less than an hour’s drive from his Zorro Ranch property.
The fascination has not gone unnoticed by state lawmakers, who highlighted the institute as a point of interest for Epstein in the interim report released by the New Mexico Survivors’ Truth Commission. None of the scientists at the Santa Fe Institute have been accused of any wrongdoing, but the connections documented in the Epstein files warrant a closer look.
Interconnectivity of Science
The Santa Fe Institute, or SFI, was founded in 1984 as an alternative to traditional labs or universities. It was built on the idea that the ever-increasing specialization and niching-down of science were a detriment to true understanding and discovery.
“The intellectual world [had] divided into specialized camps that more or less ignored one another,” SFI co-founder George Cowan wrote, according to SFI’s website.“If the gap […] were to be closed,” he reportedly wrote in his memoir, “it seemed that the initiative had to be taken by natural scientists. It was physics that had made a mistaken virtue of avoiding ‘soft’ science.”
Over the years, SFI has remained committed to the goal of interdisciplinary research and cooperation. It doesn’t even have departments, according to its website. This commitment has led to the institute becoming perhaps best known for its focus on complexity theory, a branch of science that seeks to develop universal theories that describe systems across scientific disciplines.
“Many scientific disciplines are already associated with powerful models and theories,” David Krakhauer, SFI’s current president, wrote in a 2015 article. “Complexity science seeks to connect these theories, to find explanatory and predictive frameworks that allow us to, for example, describe biological mechanisms in computational terms or social structures in energetic terms.”
It was this interest in being able to describe the workings not only of the natural world and the broader universe, but of human interactions, systems (financial and otherwise), and behaviors, that drew Epstein to the group.
‘Move fast and break things’
In a way, Epstein’s fascination with SFI mirrors the fascination numerous other financial elites seem to have with academic and technological “rule-breaking.” Mark Zuckerberg’s motto at Facebook in the early days was “Move fast and break things.” Elon Musk relied on 20-somethings to overhaul massive, carefully constructed government systems through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Sam Altman has been pushing the development of AI forward at breakneck speed with little government oversight. . On a more human level, venture capitalist Bryan Johnson went as far as to infuse himself with his teenage son’s plasma in an effort to stay young.
The belief that they could obtain a result or achieve a level of understanding no one else has, if only everyone else would get out of their way and let them circumvent “the way things are”
seems to be a common attitude. Epstein fits into a pattern of people who seem to have allowed their financial success to convince them that they can see what others don’t, and that if they could just act on that insight unchecked, they could solve — well, everything.
And to them, being the one to solve the mysteries of the universe — or at least being behind the solution — seems to be more important than the solution itself. As Sam Altman told The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow about Elon Musk, “[He] desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it.”
In an unfinished documentary Epstein was making to rehabilitate his image, he explained his fascination with SFI to his friend Steve Bannon, who was filming the interviews.
“Complex systems are complex by definition. But there’s not necessarily — it’s not one level of complexity” Epstein said.. “We might say, ‘well, our fingers are complex — the movements, the muscles of our hands — but it’s not as complex as the blood system.”
“Now, I have a circulatory system. I have systems on top of ‘There’s no one group or person that really understands the way the [whole] body works,” he continued. “There’s no one group that understands the way the financial systems work. […] So the goal of the Santa Fe Institute was to see: Is there a way to get in and somehow understand how complex systems interact?”
Bringing a Silicon Valley Mindset to Santa Fe
Epstein became acquainted with SFI through his convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell introduced Epstein with Murray Gell-Mann, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and one of the founders of SFI. According to Maxwell, Gell-Man and Epstein “got along very, very well.”
Epstein and Gell-Mann’s relationship spanned years: Gell-Mann thanked Epstein for his financial support in his 1994 book , The Quark and the Jaguar, and wrote to Epstein after he completed his sentence: “I hope your life has returned to normal and is going well.” In an email to a recipient whose name is redacted, Epstein advised the person to tell Gell-Mann “we ae close „ youve been to the ranch etc; tell him you know he likes beautiful women , he wil like that [sic].”
“I for one would like to understand how such a brilliant mind could have such terrible judgement in his supporters,” Krakauer told the Santa Fe New Mexican in an email earlier this year. “We shall never know.”
Beyond Gell-Mann, Epstein’s closest direct SFI contact seems to have been Geoffery West, a theoretical physicist who served as the institute’s president from 2005 to 2009 and, according to emails released in the files, arranged to visit Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in August 2012.
The Santa Fe Institute reports having received $275,000 in donations from Epstein over the years, with just one $25,000 donation having been accepted after his 2008 conviction. In 2019, SFI donated $25,000 to Solace Sexual Assault Services.
Justice Department records, however, put Epstein’s total contribution to SFI at $680,000 or more, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. Whether some of that differential went directly to a scientist instead of through the institute (Gell-Mann seemed open to the idea), or the gap reflects a bookkeeping error remains unknown.
The convicted sex offender’s loose connections to SFI are vast and span decades. As part of The Cover-Up, COURIER’s ongoing investigation into Epstein, several other individuals have been identified for their role connecting Epstein to the world of science and academia. Future reporting will detail these relationships and what role they may have played in Epstein’s criminal network, or how Epstein may have used them without their knowledge.
The Truth Commission’s interim report noted that SFI fully complied with the commission’s subpoena, and that officials are still investigating the financials of the matter. More is expected when the commission releases its final report in December, and New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has already opened a criminal investigation into Epstein’s associates in the state.
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