Hi folks, I shared some thoughts I wrote up about Sam Bankman-Fried. I worry that there’s a bit of a social cascade that’s leading us to draw the wrong lessons from what happened. I’m not 100% confident in either the facts of what happened—though, as a former securities litigator in the post 2008 period, I think I have more experience than most—but I don’t see a particularly compelling case for fraud. I also think the focus on a single person’s supposed indiscretions, whether true or otherwise, may distract us from deeper systemic problems that FTX’s collapse represents.
Very interested in others’ thoughts, and especially thoughts on my diagnosis of cultural norms in EA that may have contributed to the problem at FTX. Here’s the link:
I appreciated the personal notes about SBFs interactions with the animal welfare community. I do think the tribalism EA tribalism element is very real as well. Also appreciate the point about trying to work on something intrinsically motivating—I’m not sure that it’s possible for every individual but I do feel like my own intrinsic love of work helps a lot with putting in a lot of time and effort!
Three social forces at the root of FTX’s collapse
Hi folks, I shared some thoughts I wrote up about Sam Bankman-Fried. I worry that there’s a bit of a social cascade that’s leading us to draw the wrong lessons from what happened. I’m not 100% confident in either the facts of what happened—though, as a former securities litigator in the post 2008 period, I think I have more experience than most—but I don’t see a particularly compelling case for fraud. I also think the focus on a single person’s supposed indiscretions, whether true or otherwise, may distract us from deeper systemic problems that FTX’s collapse represents.
Very interested in others’ thoughts, and especially thoughts on my diagnosis of cultural norms in EA that may have contributed to the problem at FTX. Here’s the link:
https://simpleheart.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-sam-bankman-fried
Haha, I wrote a similarly titled article sharing the premise that Sam’s actions seem more indicative of a mistake than a fraud: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/w6aLsNppuwnqccHmC/in-defense-of-sbf
I appreciated the personal notes about SBFs interactions with the animal welfare community. I do think the tribalism EA tribalism element is very real as well. Also appreciate the point about trying to work on something intrinsically motivating—I’m not sure that it’s possible for every individual but I do feel like my own intrinsic love of work helps a lot with putting in a lot of time and effort!
Great post.