Yes, there are many indirect ways EA might have had a causal impact here, including by influencing SBF’s ideology, funneling certain kinds of people to FTX, improving SBF’s reputation with funders, etc. Not all of these should necessarily cause EAs to hand-wring or soul-search — sometimes you can do all the right things and still contribute to a rare disaster by sheer chance. But a disaster like this is a good opportunity to double-check whether we’re living up to our own principles in practice, and also to double-check whether our principles and strategies are as beneficial as they sounded on paper.
Yes, there are many indirect ways EA might have had a causal impact here, including by influencing SBF’s ideology, funneling certain kinds of people to FTX, improving SBF’s reputation with funders, etc. Not all of these should necessarily cause EAs to hand-wring or soul-search — sometimes you can do all the right things and still contribute to a rare disaster by sheer chance. But a disaster like this is a good opportunity to double-check whether we’re living up to our own principles in practice, and also to double-check whether our principles and strategies are as beneficial as they sounded on paper.