EFTA02359135.pdf

From: Joichi Ito Sent: Monday, May 29, 2017 5:40 PM To: Jeffrey Epstein Subject: slightly modified Modified a few things for clarity. Please iterate on this =ersion. Thanks! - =oi We propose = "One Science" initiative hosted at the Media Lab to =enerate and launch a number of collaborative research programs in =cience by approaching the development of the questions as well as the =ramework for addressing them in a new and nontraditional way. This will =equire discretionary funding that allows flexibility, pivoting and =nterdisciplinary collaboration beyond the constraints of typical =oundation and federal funding approaches. Almost all =f the important problems that science faces are complex and =nterdisciplinary, yet the majority of traditional research labs still =ocus on a single discipline or problem. To tackle difficult challenges, =uch as curing or augmenting the human body; developing, deploying and =egulating artificial intelligence; or understanding, designing and =anaging the future of genomics and our species, we need =nterdisciplinary—and perhaps more importantly, =ntidisciplinary—groups of the best researchers in any number of =isparate fields. Working together at the Media Lab, these scientists =re unencumbered by the "walls" of disciplines and =ederal funding silos. These teams develop tools and pull expertise from =ny field, exploiting "low-hanging fruit" discoveries in =eglected areas. Unlike sciences like physics, which have an established =aradigm, these are "pre-paradigmatic sciences"—the principles =re not yet clear, the textbook is incomplete, there are no hard and =ast rules, so the disciplinary source of a given revolution is highly =npredictable. While =cademia can attract the brightest researchers, those whose thinking is =ot yet encumbered by traditional disciplinary biases, it does not =ecessarily provide the best model for attracting funding for =E24,40unproven" research initiatives, or for scaling towards =eployment. The Media Lab's "secret sauce" is =ts ability to bring together a constantly evolving community of =undreds of faculty members, staff researchers, and graduate students, =nd draw on the broader research community at MIT and beyond. We can =ssemble teams of theoretical scientists as well as engineers and =esigners to build new tools and deploy them. The problems we are trying =o tackle today are not as focused as the Manhattan Project, but rather =nvolve a range of explorations in complex self-adaptive systems, such =s biological systems. We are building a new kind of approach to =dvancing the understanding, invention, and deployment of a =ntidisciplinary "one science." EFTA_R1_01347155 EFTA02359135