It’s open to interpretation, but I don’t think”thrown overboard” is there to suggest much about the EA community, though I’m sure some wish there were a way to distance EA from someone who was so deeply entangled with SBF.
Whatever the case, I think the reference primarily serves to set up the following:
While MacAskill lies in the belly of the big fish, the fate of effective altruism hangs in the balance. Jonah, accepting the burden of duty, eventually went to Nineveh and told the truth about transgression and punishments. At the end of that story, the sinners of that city donned sackcloth and ashes, and found themselves spared.
Will’s responses in the piece fall far short from “accepting the burden of duty.” First, on his propagating the myth of SBF’s frugality:
When asked about the discrepancies in Bankman-Fried’s narrative, MacAskill responded, “The impression I gave of Sam in interviews was my honest impression: that he did drive a Corolla, he did have nine roommates, and—given his wealth—he did not live particularly extravagantly.”
and this, in reference to the Slack message:
“Let me be clear on this: if there was a fraud, I had no clue about it. With respect to specific Slack messages, I don’t recall seeing the warnings you described.
Perhaps Will doesn’t deserve much blame (that’s certainly a theme running through his comments so far). But if he isn’t able to tell the truth about what happened, or isn’t equipped to grapple with it, it’s bad news for the movements and organizations he’s associated with.
Like, for one, Nineveh is super alien to Jonah, and he hates the fact that they actually repent, which seems like a bad analogy for Will speaking truth to EAs in order to get us to do better. Also Nineveh’s sins don’t seem like they have much to do with Jonah’s (altho Jonah certainly doesn’t seem to have a totally properly reverent attitude). So the paragraph just doesn’t really make all that much sense.
It’s open to interpretation, but I don’t think”thrown overboard” is there to suggest much about the EA community, though I’m sure some wish there were a way to distance EA from someone who was so deeply entangled with SBF.
Whatever the case, I think the reference primarily serves to set up the following:
Will’s responses in the piece fall far short from “accepting the burden of duty.” First, on his propagating the myth of SBF’s frugality:
and this, in reference to the Slack message:
Perhaps Will doesn’t deserve much blame (that’s certainly a theme running through his comments so far). But if he isn’t able to tell the truth about what happened, or isn’t equipped to grapple with it, it’s bad news for the movements and organizations he’s associated with.
I am purely quibbling with whether the Biblical allusion fits.
Like, for one, Nineveh is super alien to Jonah, and he hates the fact that they actually repent, which seems like a bad analogy for Will speaking truth to EAs in order to get us to do better. Also Nineveh’s sins don’t seem like they have much to do with Jonah’s (altho Jonah certainly doesn’t seem to have a totally properly reverent attitude). So the paragraph just doesn’t really make all that much sense.
It doesn’t.