Jacobin Radio Behind the News: The Psychology of the Epstein Gang w/ Tessa West
32 snips
Mar 2, 2026 
Tessa West, NYU psychology professor who studies group dynamics, unpacks how social status, secrecy, and selective inclusion kept Epstein’s inner circle intact. Nick Cernak, AI scholar and author, surveys the economics, architecture, and risks of generative AI. Wanda Bertram, researcher at the Prison Policy Initiative, breaks down the $445 billion annual costs and budget trends driving mass incarceration.
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Academics Became Status Objects For Billionaires
- A new dynamic: wealthy people now 'collect' intellectuals as shiny objects, offering access and funding that substitutes for traditional academic grants.
- This patron model speeds research funding and privileges public-facing academics who increase hosts' status.
Transformers Plus Scale Created Modern LLMs
- Generative AI's recent leap traces to the transformer architecture plus massive scaling of compute and data, producing unexpected capabilities.
- The 2017 transformer plus later scale-ups is the technical origin of today's LLM surge.
AI Gains From Tooling Around Models
- Recent AI progress often comes from software scaffolding around models (agents, tool connectors), not just model size improvements.
- Integrating domain tools and long-running task rules is driving new agent capabilities in 2025–2026.
