On the basis of what I've seen so far I find it unlikely that Epstein actually cared much about establishing a "behavioral engineering institute". Baiting "thought leaders" by emailing them about big ideas and grand plans was his standard M/O, it seems. He must have sent hundreds if not thousands of such emails - Scott Aaronson got one[0], and with no disrespect intended to him he must be pretty far down the list of powerful people you'd want to collect.
On the basis of what I've seen so far I find it unlikely that Epstein actually cared much about establishing a "behavioral engineering institute". Baiting "thought leaders" by emailing them about big ideas and grand plans was his standard M/O, it seems. He must have sent hundreds if not thousands of such emails - Scott Aaronson got one[0], and with no disrespect intended to him he must be pretty far down the list of powerful people you'd want to collect.
[0] https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=9534