The UK’s top political podcasters on Sam Bankman-Fried
Link post to ‘The Rest is Politics’ podcast, Episode 233, April 3rd 2024, with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, segment on Bankman-Fried 49:07-56:18. https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-rest-is-politics/id1611374685
Does anyone know who it was from the Future Fund whom Stewart reports as behaving rather rudely during their call? He says it was the head of the Fund, which would be Bedstead, but that seems unlikely to me. Obviously this is a very minor issue compared to everything else that happened re FTX, but this is still embarrassing.
Seems likely to me that it was Beckstead, but that it was less rude than the podcast makes it sound. Beckstead is pretty straight talking, and might have told someone that the Future Fund wasn’t interested in funding Global Poverty interventions rather than schedule another call. And after FTX’s downfall it’s natural for people to tell stories about interactions which cast the FTX side in a negative light (since it helps distance the speaker from FTX).
Whether something is perceived as rude or not is a subjective assessment. Given that Stewart was reporting on his own interaction with a person at the Future Fund and obviously thought them to be extremely rude, it is not correct to say it was likely that ‘it was less rude than the podcast made it sound’. The podcast is not a third party, interpreting events reported to it. Stewart’s assessment of the rudeness must be accepted, since he himelf was the affected party.
His incredulity at being treated like that was audible. And perfectly understandable, since he was approaching them as the co-founder of the charity Give Directly (https://www.givedirectly.org/), which rigorously assesses the effectiveness of its own giving. Stewart even appears to have himself been influenced by the principles and philosophy of effective altruism, so for him to have been rebuffed in so coarse a manner is doubly inexcusable.
There’s a saying, ‘the fish stinks from the head down’ and it seems that the hubris and arrogance of SBF himself had indeed rubbed off on whoever it was talking down their nose to Rory Stewart—author of several best-selling non-fiction political books and memoir, former UK government minister, diplomat, governor of a wartorn middle eastern region, Yale professor and Conservative leadership contender. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Stewart)
At the very least, the unnamed Future Fund person should have recognised the common ground between Stewart’s charity and the effective altruism movement, and been friendly to him. Snubbing and alienating potential friends and allies is not only respectless but also quite simply stupid. I sincerely hope whoever it was is no longer employed by any EA organisation.
Factual note: Rory Stewart isn’t a co-founder of GD, he is/was a later stage employee
Correct. Thank you. Was mixing it up with the other charity he founded with his wife—Turquoise Mountain. He’s now an advisor for Give Directly: https://www.givedirectly.org/team/
His bio there: Rory is an advisor at GiveDirectly. Previously, he was the UK Secretary of State for International Development, Minister of State for Justice, Minister of State in Foreign Office and DFID (covering Africa, Middle East, and Asia), Minister for the Environment and Chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. After a brief period as an infantry officer he joined the UK Diplomatic Service, serving overseas in Jakarta, as British representative to Montenegro in the wake of the Kosovo crisis, and as the coalition Deputy-Governor of two provinces of Southern Iraq following the intervention of 2003. He left the diplomatic service to undertake a two-year walk across Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal. In 2005, he established the Turquoise Mountain Foundation in Kabul, working to restore a section of the old city, establish a clinic, primary school, and Arts Institute, and bring Afghan crafts to international markets. In 2008, he became the Ryan Professor of Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School and Director for the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy. He is a Visiting Fellow at The Jackson Institute at Yale University. Speaking & Press Requests: If you are interested in Rory speaking at an event or making a press appearance please email press@givedirectly.org. He’s on Twitter at @RoryStewartUK.
Just listening to it, Stewart mentions “The head of his foundation”, which does seem to point to Beckstead. If it’s instead referring to the FTX Future Fund instead then the evidence of the person being male and in California points mainly to either Beckstead or Aschenbrenner. Now Stewart may have misremembered what went down here or who it was/why, but feels like something that should be quick to clear up and important to do so if this was a mistake.
Agree. If this person is still employed by an EA organisation they should be told to apologise to him.