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This one is particularly egregious: > "Mr. Bankman-Fried’s circle of colleagues was bound by a commitment to effective altruism, a charitable movement that urg
by MichaelCollins 4y ago
This one is particularly egregious:
> "Mr. Bankman-Fried’s circle of colleagues was bound by a commitment to effective altruism, a charitable movement that urges adherents to give away their wealth in efficient and logical ways."
Not "Bankman-Fried CLAIMS his circle of colleagues were bound by a commitment to effective altruism" The article isn't reporting the claim Bankman-Fried makes about himself. As written, the journalist is the one making this claim. That's far over the line. This man stole billions of dollars and the New York Times is asserting that he's an altruist.
- ninth_ant 4y agoIt’s fairly well established that SBF had strong ties in the EA community long before FTX. The infamous now-deleted profile by sequoia goes into this in more detail. I think it’s reasonable to conclude that SBFs interest in EA was legitimate, irrespective of him defrauding his customers. Even if that isn’t the case, interest in the subject of EA still accurately describes his circle of colleagues.
- MichaelCollins 4y agoIt would be fine to say that Bankman-Fried associated with or publicly endorsed the EA movement, those are both accurate statements of fact. The NYTimes is going further, saying he was actually "bound to a commitment", elevating Bankman-Fried's claim of sincere altruistic motive to a fact. I don't think professional journalists make this sort of mistake by accident, and if they did, it shouldn't have gotten past the editors.
- ninth_ant 4y agoIn the snippet you quoted, it said his circle of colleagues were bound to that commitment, which is an accurate summary. SBFs connections to the EA community seem to be pretty foundational to his success. There is no mistake here. You’re seemingly very upset by your own misinterpretation of this section of the article. Beyond what it says in that snippet, SBF did publicly pledge to give away the vast majority of his wealth. He was outspoken about his belief in Effective Altruism. You can certainly argue he scamming the others in the EA community with a false pledge and commitment to EA principles? But this aspect of the article was completely accurate.
- bena 4y agoFor an "effective altruist", he was neither that effective or that altruisitic. Odd.
- HPMOR 4y agoOr from a more cynical perspective he was extremely effective and altruistic. He robbed millions of people with spare capital and redistributed hundreds of millions to EA causes.