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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 24, 2023

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More like blast from the past than current burning culture war battle, but one interesting fact dropped from court documents concerning FTX effective altruist saga.

Sam Bankman-Fried wanted to buy the nation of Nauru to wait out the world's end

Dead bird thread

This article is more clickbaity and sensational than factual, actual quote from the court documents docket 1886 - "Adversary case 23-50448. Complaint by FTX Trading Ltd., Alameda Research LLC" is:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/8NgFWTk2puBG5eSJA/ftx-foundation-wanted-to-buy-the-nation-of-nauru-to-save-eas

One memo exchanged between Gabriel Bankman-Fried and an officer of the FTX Foundation describes a plan to purchase the sovereign nation of Nauru in order to construct a “bunker / shelter” that would be used for “some event where 50%-99.99% of people die [to] ensure that most EAs [effective altruists] survive” and to develop “sensible regulation around human genetic enhancement, and build a lab there.” The memo further noted that “probably there are other things it’s useful to do with a sovereign country, too.”

Hard to imagine worse place to be stuck in the case of TEOTWAWKI that deserted and devastated island that lacks even drinkable water.

It was never a serious plan, nothing more than one of many ideas brainstormed among elite human capital of FTX Foundation, but it is symptomatic as for elite thought and for their beliefs that everything and everyone is for sale. As people on EA forum pointed up, it could achieve nothing than give EA a bad name (if it already hadn't one).

We are not any more in the Holy Roman Empire, selling and buying sovereign principalities is, legally, not a thing anymore and trading land between sovereign states is also thing of the past.

Last case was in 1791, when Christian Friedrich Carl Alexander, last margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach sold his country to Prussia so he could enjoy comfy retirement in England (stereotypical boomer behavior, but probably the smartest move at the time).

a “bunker / shelter” that would be used for “some event where 50%-99.99% of people die [to] ensure that most EAs [effective altruists] survive”

This is especially galling coming from the guy who will flip a 50.1% coin forever at double or nothing on civilization's behalf. We might all be lucky he blew up "early".

Is it very mean of me to take a look at the kind of people around SBF, then imagine them as the template for the future generations of humanity post-apocalypse, and shudder?

Like, two generations down the line they all die off from lack of stimulants for the ADHD etc. etc. etc.? Because post-freakin' apocalypse and collapse of entirety of human civilisation?

People here hate to admit it but the future will be filled with tall, good-looking chads who are good at socializing.

If society doesn’t collapse we’ll just continue on the same trajectory of mate selection. If it does collapse then physically fit, personable guys will be the ones who actually have useful abilities.

People here hate to admit it but the future will be filled with tall, good-looking chads who are good at socializing.

A few moments more of thought leads to the conclusion that the present is already filled with such people.

The virgin looking forward vs. the chad looking backward

The future will be full of the descendants of random African peasants, and religious nuts. Chads are good at having short term relationships, but that doesn’t translate into reproduction anymore.

Have you seen what Mormon people look like?

Yes, I have. And no doubt there will be many tall, handsome Chad like types among the descendants of religious nutters, but there will also be many short, glasses wearing jewfro Havers. Mormons are not the entirety of religious groups with significantly above replacement fertility, and unlike, say, the Haredi, or Dutch calvinists, their fertility rate is falling.