
Ex-MIT professor told friends he ‘robbed the bank’ - dnetesn
http://nypost.com/2015/01/12/no-one-believed-this-former-professor-would-rob-a-bank/
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amarte
Gibbons' actions are extremely selfish in my opinion. I know someone who used
to work behind the cash registers of gas stations in North Houston. He has
been robbed and held at gun point multiple times. According to him, the
experience is traumatic and made him fearful and stressed out at work. To put
someone through that for no reason other than your own curiosity is
intolerably inconsiderate.

Instead, Gibbons could have picked up a copy of Crime and Punishment or some
other work of art if he wanted to acquire a sense of the desperation felt by
"the disenfranchised of society." It is not a stretch to imagine that it
probably sucks.

Great art can teach us about life without the burden of living through the
worst it has to offer. Trying to force traumatic experiences on yourself at
the expense of others is not art but stupidity.

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Retra
It feels like the classic "but, officer: it was only a joke!"

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mitcoward
Not that it matters to the bank robbery, but: he is not quite an ex-MIT
professor. ([http://act.mit.edu/people/lecturers/joe-
gibbons/](http://act.mit.edu/people/lecturers/joe-gibbons/))

~~~
rab_oof
Getting tenure is almost like winning the lottery, except more folks have PhDs
than buy tickets it seems. (Double-edged sword of university pension
commitment cheapness and oversupply of labor to grind out papers.)

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logicallee
This is the most interesting part of what I just read:

>“I left a message with my girlfriend’s sister and I told her, ‘Yeah, I’ve got
into the city, I’ve got myself a room at The Bowery Hotel, I filed for Social
Security, I robbed the bank and I went to the drugstore,’” the 61-year-old
told The Post in an exclusive interview at the Manhattan Detention Complex on
Sunday. “I told them, but they just didn’t pay any attention to the ‘robbed
the bank’ part.”

Next time you need to break some bad news how about it! "I left a message with
my investors saying, "Yeah we have another two hires, we've just gotten a
small TC story, filed for a provisional patent, I closed a down round, and I
went to meet with that guy who you introduced me to last week."

"I told them, but they just didn't pay attention to the 'I closed a down
round' part."

can't say you didn't mention it!

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cperciva
_The former visual arts and film professor, whose contract was not renewed by
MIT in 2011, said he had no regrets and wasn’t afraid he would do hard time.
“This latest project is akin to ‘bank robbing for dummies,’ ” he said, noting
that he expects to get probation._

Rather than probation, I think he's more likely to get locked up in a psych
ward. There's definitely something going wrong in this guy's head.

~~~
fiatmoney
Judges & juries really, really hate reasoning like that.

~~~
rab_oof
Definitely playing Russian roulette with a loaded justice system. May skate on
the (arguable) basis of "white male privilege" and possible lack of prior
convictions.

IANAL, but I would play on empathy for an retiring, unaccomplished non-
professor risking ignominy for ignescence... Dude was just deperate for
attention. (Making an example of him wouldn't necessarily deter folks because
they would throw their lives away anyhow... Making an example rarely does
anything other than rationalize malicious sentencing.)

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califield
Check out this excerpt from his 2001 semi-autobiographical film, "Confessions
of a Sociopath":

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-tHqOz5zTo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-tHqOz5zTo)

More information on the film:

[http://creative-capital.org/projects/view/154](http://creative-
capital.org/projects/view/154)

~~~
driverdan
Is the low quality intentional? We made better looking, sounding, and edited
videos in high school AV class.

~~~
rab_oof
One would think surveillance audio/video should be sufficiently high
resolution to remove reasonable doubt as to identity and circumstances. Then
again, it might be that surveillance systems are considered a "bothersome cost
of doing business" so the cheapest system that checks boxes is used and
rarely, if ever, upgraded... Until there is an incident.

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stolio
I wonder if they'll cut all ties with him, ban him from campus, revoke his
emeritus status and remove his online courses from the OpenCourseWare site...

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coldcode
Not the way to rob a bank anymore.

