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suy  1yr ago (astralcodexten.substack.com)   Edited 1yr ago   3831 thread views

Scott Alexander on Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX and Effective Altruism

astralcodexten.substack.com

I made this a top level post because I think people here might want to discuss it but you can remove it if it doesn't meet your standards.

Edit: removed my opinion of Scott from the body

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Scott is posting some nuclear-grade copium here.

Edit: For a pretty good explanation of why I think so, see e.g. TheGodfatherBaritone's comment in the linked thread.

He's only human. This is a big (relatively) scandal and it hits home to where he has interests, where he has friends or people in the same circles, and where he was getting money from himself (if I'm right on that last one). Yet another sex scandal in the Catholic church? Means nothing to him, he can talk about it objectively. Financial scandal in politics? Ditto. Financial scandal in his neck of the woods? Here's why it's not our fault!

I can't blame him for reacting like this. Anyone who is on the outside and writing about this is tarring EA with the same brush of fraud and embezzlement and swindling, and it's going to take a while to get out from under and find out what happened when where to whom, not to mention all the organisations and people who were awarded grants from FTX money which has now gone up in smoke, and even worse for people who did get the money and now have no idea if they are going to be held liable for repaying it or what.

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