Danny Hillis

William Daniel 'Danny' Hillis (born September 25, 1956, in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American inventor, entrepreneur, and computer scientist. He developed algorithms for massively parallel computing while at MIT in the late 1970s and founded Thinking Machines Corporation in 1983, creating the Connection Machine. His mentor at MIT was Marvin Minsky, and physicist Richard Feynman reportedly consulted for Thinking Machines. Hillis raised $5 million from CBS founder William Paley for Thinking Machines, which sold Connection Machines to Lockheed, Chevron, and the U.S. government. He later served as Vice President of R&D at Disney and co-founded Applied Minds with Bran Ferren, as well as the Long Now Foundation and Metaweb (later acquired by Google for its Knowledge Graph).

Hillis has been a prominent figure in technology and intellectual circles, participating in TED conferences, EDGE.org gatherings, and various high-profile events alongside leading scientists and technologists. He is described in biographical documents as having 'magnetic intellectual charisma' and has contributed essays on topics including artificial intelligence and hybrid organizational superintelligence.

Hillis appears in Jeffrey Epstein case documents primarily through social and intellectual network connections. He was listed in Epstein's black book with three phone numbers, appeared on invite lists for Epstein-organized seminars, was quoted in a major profile of Epstein praising his support, and was part of the EDGE.org intellectual circle that included Epstein. He has been identified in reporting on the MIT Media Lab investigation as having facilitated introductions between Epstein and MIT's Joi Ito.