'Super Race': Jeffrey Epstein Had a Disturbing Transhumanism Plan to Seed Mankind With His Own DNA

Jeffrey Epstein told scientists and others that he wanted to impregnate women at his New Mexico ranch to spread his DNA, according to a New York Times report citing four people familiar with his thinking.

Epstein bought Zorro Ranch, outside Santa Fe, in 1993. Two award-winning scientists and an adviser said that, beginning in the early 2000s, he told them women would be inseminated with his sperm there and give birth to his children, the report said.

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty.

Some who heard the idea privately called it a 'super race' plan. No evidence shows it was carried out.

Jeffrey Epstein's 'Super Race' Idea at Zorro Ranch

Jaron Lanier recalled a dinner at Epstein's Manhattan mansion where a scientist who identified herself as working at NASA told him Epstein wanted 20 women at a time impregnated at the ranch.

Lanier said he had the impression that Epstein used the dinners, where some guests were attractive women with academic credentials, to screen potential mothers. That was Lanier's impression, not independent evidence of recruitment.

In a deposition, Johanna Sjoberg said Epstein asked her during a 2005 visit to the ranch to become the mother of his child. Sjoberg, then a college student, said she did not agree.

People who heard Epstein discuss the proposal said they saw no indication that it would have been against the law.

How Jeffrey Epstein's Transhumanism Plan Reached Scientists

Epstein's interest was associated with transhumanism, described as improving people through genetic engineering and other technology.

Critics have compared aspects of that thinking with eugenics. Alan M. Dershowitz recalled being appalled when Epstein steered a Cambridge lunch towards genetic improvement in humans, given the Nazis' use of eugenics.

Epstein helped start Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics with a $6.5 million donation. He also hosted scientists at his Manhattan home and at conferences in the US Virgin Islands.

Guests included Stephen Hawking, Murray Gell-Mann, Stephen Jay Gould, Oliver Sacks, George M. Church and Frank Wilczek. Some scientists later said the prospect of funding led them to take his scientific musings seriously.

Steven Pinker, who said he never took support from Epstein, called him an 'intellectual impostor'. Pinker said he challenged Epstein at a Harvard session after Epstein argued that reducing starvation and providing healthcare to poor people increased the risk of overpopulation.

A Harvard colleague later told Pinker he had been 'voted off the island' and was no longer welcome.

A charity Epstein established gave $20,000 in 2011 to the World Transhumanist Association, now Humanity Plus. His foundation also gave $100,000 to pay the salary of Humanity Plus vice-chairman Ben Goertzel, according to Goertzel's résumé. In an email, Goertzel called what he had read about Epstein 'pretty disturbing'.

Southern Trust Company, Epstein's Virgin Islands business, disclosed in a local filing that it was engaged in DNA analysis. Epstein's will lists no children.

Separately, NBC News reported that at least 10 women and girls alleged grooming or abuse at the ranch, drawing on court testimony, lawsuits and other records. Half were teenagers when they said Epstein harmed them.

New Mexico opened its first investigation into Epstein in 2019, after limitation periods had expired for some crimes. State authorities searched the ranch for the first time in 2026. The property has since been sold and renamed. Its new owner said he would grant law enforcement access.