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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   2451 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 6, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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This is pretty un-fun (well for me) but too insubstantial for the main thread: Coffeezilla apparently reviewed Michael Lewis' book, and basically it seems like he had his mind made up/got hit with SBF's Rasputin-in-flip-flops aura and decided it was too hard to rewrite the book when FTX collapsed like a house of cards. The guy with the most access is also the most compromised.

Coffeezilla should know what he's talking about on this topic, but I did a sanity check with the grown-ups and NYT, FT and Fortune basically all come to the same conclusion. Even after his collapse in full view of everyone, SBF somehow has a residual reality distortion field. Also:

Bankman-Fried was supposed to be another hero in this vein — or at least that’s what Lewis suggests in the opening pages of “Going Infinite,” recalling how a friend who was about to close a deal with Bankman-Fried had asked Lewis to look into him. After his first meeting with Bankman-Fried at the end of 2021, Lewis says, he “was totally sold.” He called up his friend: “Go for it! Swap shares with Sam Bankman-Fried! Do whatever he wants to do! What could possibly go wrong?”

Ah-mazing. (Imagine how his friend feels lol)

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. I think I'm going to go find a book on cults instead now.

I keep seeing this take but I came away from the book thinking SBF is 100% guilty and probably going to jail. The book is an empathetic portrait of Sam yet there are multiple scenes that show outright and deliberate fraud.The book is more of a character study of Sam and less a laundry list of crimes, but I think the book is more interesting that way.

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