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Maybe taking money from crypto gamblers and giving it to progressive political causes is the true effective altruism!

photochemsyn 4y ago
This reminds me of the claims by organized crime syndicates that they were really just supporting the immigrant and minority communities in New York City who were being subjected to discrimination by the state. Robbin' The Hood.
- from 4y ago
  Well it is true to some extent. Tammany Hall was notoriously corrupt but did lots of things for immigrants who would've otherwise had no help and arguably was ethically net neutral. https://www.npr.org/2014/03/05/286218423/the-case-for-tammany-hall-being-on-the-right-side-of-history https://www.npr.org/2014/03/05/286218423/the-case-for-tamman... A more recent example of Meade Esposito (1972): https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/10/archives/-hi-boss-said-the-judge-to-meade-esposito-the-powerful-kings-county.html?searchResultPosition=3 https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/10/archives/-hi-boss-said-th... >The real business of the club is service. Every time someone comes in with a problem, that someone's name, address and telephone number are written on a special five‐ by‐eight‐inch card. Unless the problem is too sensitive to be committed to paper, the inter viewer — who may be an elected official or just an active member of the club— jots down a brief description of it. I went through a stack of these cards, and the notes on them suggested the breadth of the view the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club takes of the functions of a political organization. Here are some of the problem descriptions: >“Job reference … chiropractor bill … problem with daughter at school being harassed by other students … post office info.… draft info. … Canarsie baseball league … matrimonial problems — advised what to do … Medicaid problem … has not received 2 Regents scholarship checks … Criminal Court — referred to lawyer … personal problem with son—O.K. taken care of … fire inspector requires that a partition be removed—this seems rather hard on the per son and not really necessary —should talk to department … transfer from Louis Pink houses to Bayview and Glen wood … welfare assistance info. soc. sec. … wants to go to Bar Association against his lawyer—I told him to go fly a kite! … info re Peace Corps … works for city Dept. of Parks — lost his job — provisional … problem with ex wife … accepted by City College—wishes to go to Brooklyn. …”
api 4y ago
Would be nice but this was much more about buying political influence in the hope of a bailout or avoiding regulation or prosecution. They donated to Republicans too, though less. There are other crypto scam outfits that donate more to Republicans for what I am sure are the same reasons.
tartoran 4y ago
Most of the funds form FTX ‘crypto gamblers’ ended up in Sam’s pockets where he made dubious gambles with it. Not a lot more than pledges did actually materialized into donations. To me effective altruism is just a mantra to justify bad behaviors in the name of altruism.
- gruez 4y ago
  >To me effective altruism is just a mantra to justify bad behaviors in the name of altruism. What are the "bad behaviors" being justified here, and how do they relate to effective altruism? From wikipedia: >Effective altruism (EA) is a philosophical and social movement that advocates "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis".[1][2] People who pursue the goals of effective altruism are labeled effective altruists.[3] >Common practices of effective altruists include choosing careers based on the amount of good that the career achieves, donating to charities based on maximising impact, and earning to give. Popular cause priorities within EA include global health and development, animal welfare, and risks to the survival of humanity over the long-term future. I'm not sure how any of that describes "using customer funds to prop up your affiliated crypto trading firm"
  - Melting_Harps 4y ago
    > I'm not sure how any of that describes "using customer funds to prop up your affiliated crypto trading firm" Hedge Fund, it was Alameda where the customer deposits were backdoored to and it was a Female Standford grad in Mathematics (who claimed to only use elementary math while operating it) who was CEO of said hedgefund where all the funds were lost--I only say this because of the wide-spread condemnation of the tech industry to downplay the effect that Women have on tech, and are entirely silent when it's negative as in the case wit Alameda or Theranos. Just so it's clear, I'm not a misogynist I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy of the woke mob(s) that SBF played n order to get where he was when it comes to hypocrisy and outright refusal to acknowledge it's prejudices because she doesn't seem to be getting any coverage in this crime at all! SBF is a crook and he deserves all of the scrutiny so far, but so is she and it should be noted as such! Edit because HN sucks at post liimts: > Is this a distinction worth making? I'm not even sure whether "hedge fund" is even the correct term here. Wikipedia describes it as a "quantitative trading firm" and so does bloomberg. Very much so, yes: one was an exchange (that took in customer deposits for the purpose of them to buy/sell on said platform) the other was a separate trading operation which was used to (among other things listed below) front-run tokens with said deposits on behalf if it's owners with said exchange based on the activity of it's user base--it's like not seeing the difference between Robinhood and Citadel in that debacle. It just so happens that FTX and Alameda were founded and owned by the same person, SBF. So, yes their are critical and fundamental differences that should be acknowledged to comprehend what and how this occurred. The Court Ruling is worth a read. Furthermore, the use of quantitative analysis to trade doesn't detract from the aforementioned so I'm not sure why you cited that at all other than to prove you can look up a wikipedia entry. But ultimately, no... it isn't the same thing at all; here is the court ruling to prove it [0], and note the following: > -8-4892-0827-0654 v.2C.The Alameda Silo22.The parent company and primary operating company in the Alameda Silo is Alameda Research LLC, which is organized in the State of Delaware. Before the Petition Date (as defined below), the Alameda Silo operated quantitative trading funds specializing in crypto assets. Strategies included arbitrage, market making, yield farming and trading volatility. The Alameda Silo also offered over-the-counter trading services, and made and managed other debt and equity investments. >> In short, the Alameda Silo was a “crypto hedge fund” with a diversified business trading and speculating in digital assets and related loans and securities for the account of its owners, Messrs. Bankman-Fried (90%) and Wang (10%). 0: https://pacer-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/33/188450/042020648197.pdf https://pacer-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/33/188450/042020648...
skinnymuch 4y ago
Progressive political causes didn’t get the money. Biden and 1/3 going to Republicans got the money.
- chiefalchemist 4y ago
  Precisely. Political causes and political / power influence are two different agendas. SBF, FTX, etc. was more of the latter.
- cjcole 4y ago
  A fair summary (based on information from Open Secrets) would be that the vast preponderance of contributions were to Democratic and/or progressive candidates or funds ($36,846,356), plus relatively insignificant ($240,200) contributions to Republicans who were (in one way or another) anti-Trump. https://www.axios.com/2022/11/15/ftz-crypto-bankman-fried-democrats-midterms-campaigns https://www.axios.com/2022/11/15/ftz-crypto-bankman-fried-de... "Last spring, Bankman-Fried pledged to spend upwards of $1 billion on the 2024 election, particularly if Donald Trump were to run." https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donors?t0-search=bankman https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donor... Sam Bankman-Fried "Solidly Democrat/Liberal" Rank 6 Contributor FTX.US, Washington, DC Total Contributions $39,884,256 Total Hard Money $1,047,256 Total Outside Money $38,837,000 To Democrats $36,846,356 To Republicans $240,200 The Republicans recipients: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried-prolific-donor-republicans https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/ftx-founder-sam-bankman... "In addition, Bankman-Fried wired maximum individual donations to Boozman and incumbent Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Hoeven of North Dakota and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska throughout the election cycle." Collins, Burr, Cassidy, and Murkowski are strongly aligned against Trump. Boozman received his contribution(s) during his primary against Jake Bequette, a strongly pro-Trump Republican. Hoeven likewise during his primary race against Rick Becker, another strongly pro-Trump Republican. Also Boozman: https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/22/11/29676699/sam-bankman-fried-backed-bill-to-regulate-digital-assets-finds-support-from-several-senato https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/22/11/296766... "Stabenow noted that she is working with her Republican counterpart on the committee, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark), and regulators to finalize the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA) bill in preparation for a committee vote. DCCPA gives power to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to regulate the trading of digital commodities. This bill was backed by Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of the crypto exchange FTX."

This reminds me of the claims by organized crime syndicates that they were really just supporting the immigrant and minority communities in New York City who were being subjected to discrimination by the state. Robbin' The Hood.

from 4y ago
Well it is true to some extent. Tammany Hall was notoriously corrupt but did lots of things for immigrants who would've otherwise had no help and arguably was ethically net neutral. https://www.npr.org/2014/03/05/286218423/the-case-for-tammany-hall-being-on-the-right-side-of-history https://www.npr.org/2014/03/05/286218423/the-case-for-tamman... A more recent example of Meade Esposito (1972): https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/10/archives/-hi-boss-said-the-judge-to-meade-esposito-the-powerful-kings-county.html?searchResultPosition=3 https://www.nytimes.com/1972/12/10/archives/-hi-boss-said-th... >The real business of the club is service. Every time someone comes in with a problem, that someone's name, address and telephone number are written on a special five‐ by‐eight‐inch card. Unless the problem is too sensitive to be committed to paper, the inter viewer — who may be an elected official or just an active member of the club— jots down a brief description of it. I went through a stack of these cards, and the notes on them suggested the breadth of the view the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club takes of the functions of a political organization. Here are some of the problem descriptions: >“Job reference … chiropractor bill … problem with daughter at school being harassed by other students … post office info.… draft info. … Canarsie baseball league … matrimonial problems — advised what to do … Medicaid problem … has not received 2 Regents scholarship checks … Criminal Court — referred to lawyer … personal problem with son—O.K. taken care of … fire inspector requires that a partition be removed—this seems rather hard on the per son and not really necessary —should talk to department … transfer from Louis Pink houses to Bayview and Glen wood … welfare assistance info. soc. sec. … wants to go to Bar Association against his lawyer—I told him to go fly a kite! … info re Peace Corps … works for city Dept. of Parks — lost his job — provisional … problem with ex wife … accepted by City College—wishes to go to Brooklyn. …”

api 4y ago

Would be nice but this was much more about buying political influence in the hope of a bailout or avoiding regulation or prosecution. They donated to Republicans too, though less. There are other crypto scam outfits that donate more to Republicans for what I am sure are the same reasons.

tartoran 4y ago

Most of the funds form FTX ‘crypto gamblers’ ended up in Sam’s pockets where he made dubious gambles with it. Not a lot more than pledges did actually materialized into donations. To me effective altruism is just a mantra to justify bad behaviors in the name of altruism.

gruez 4y ago
>To me effective altruism is just a mantra to justify bad behaviors in the name of altruism. What are the "bad behaviors" being justified here, and how do they relate to effective altruism? From wikipedia: >Effective altruism (EA) is a philosophical and social movement that advocates "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis".[1][2] People who pursue the goals of effective altruism are labeled effective altruists.[3] >Common practices of effective altruists include choosing careers based on the amount of good that the career achieves, donating to charities based on maximising impact, and earning to give. Popular cause priorities within EA include global health and development, animal welfare, and risks to the survival of humanity over the long-term future. I'm not sure how any of that describes "using customer funds to prop up your affiliated crypto trading firm"
- Melting_Harps 4y ago
  > I'm not sure how any of that describes "using customer funds to prop up your affiliated crypto trading firm" Hedge Fund, it was Alameda where the customer deposits were backdoored to and it was a Female Standford grad in Mathematics (who claimed to only use elementary math while operating it) who was CEO of said hedgefund where all the funds were lost--I only say this because of the wide-spread condemnation of the tech industry to downplay the effect that Women have on tech, and are entirely silent when it's negative as in the case wit Alameda or Theranos. Just so it's clear, I'm not a misogynist I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy of the woke mob(s) that SBF played n order to get where he was when it comes to hypocrisy and outright refusal to acknowledge it's prejudices because she doesn't seem to be getting any coverage in this crime at all! SBF is a crook and he deserves all of the scrutiny so far, but so is she and it should be noted as such! Edit because HN sucks at post liimts: > Is this a distinction worth making? I'm not even sure whether "hedge fund" is even the correct term here. Wikipedia describes it as a "quantitative trading firm" and so does bloomberg. Very much so, yes: one was an exchange (that took in customer deposits for the purpose of them to buy/sell on said platform) the other was a separate trading operation which was used to (among other things listed below) front-run tokens with said deposits on behalf if it's owners with said exchange based on the activity of it's user base--it's like not seeing the difference between Robinhood and Citadel in that debacle. It just so happens that FTX and Alameda were founded and owned by the same person, SBF. So, yes their are critical and fundamental differences that should be acknowledged to comprehend what and how this occurred. The Court Ruling is worth a read. Furthermore, the use of quantitative analysis to trade doesn't detract from the aforementioned so I'm not sure why you cited that at all other than to prove you can look up a wikipedia entry. But ultimately, no... it isn't the same thing at all; here is the court ruling to prove it [0], and note the following: > -8-4892-0827-0654 v.2C.The Alameda Silo22.The parent company and primary operating company in the Alameda Silo is Alameda Research LLC, which is organized in the State of Delaware. Before the Petition Date (as defined below), the Alameda Silo operated quantitative trading funds specializing in crypto assets. Strategies included arbitrage, market making, yield farming and trading volatility. The Alameda Silo also offered over-the-counter trading services, and made and managed other debt and equity investments. >> In short, the Alameda Silo was a “crypto hedge fund” with a diversified business trading and speculating in digital assets and related loans and securities for the account of its owners, Messrs. Bankman-Fried (90%) and Wang (10%). 0: https://pacer-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/33/188450/042020648197.pdf https://pacer-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/33/188450/042020648...

skinnymuch 4y ago

Progressive political causes didn’t get the money. Biden and 1/3 going to Republicans got the money.

chiefalchemist 4y ago
Precisely. Political causes and political / power influence are two different agendas. SBF, FTX, etc. was more of the latter.
cjcole 4y ago
A fair summary (based on information from Open Secrets) would be that the vast preponderance of contributions were to Democratic and/or progressive candidates or funds ($36,846,356), plus relatively insignificant ($240,200) contributions to Republicans who were (in one way or another) anti-Trump. https://www.axios.com/2022/11/15/ftz-crypto-bankman-fried-democrats-midterms-campaigns https://www.axios.com/2022/11/15/ftz-crypto-bankman-fried-de... "Last spring, Bankman-Fried pledged to spend upwards of $1 billion on the 2024 election, particularly if Donald Trump were to run." https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donors?t0-search=bankman https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/biggest-donor... Sam Bankman-Fried "Solidly Democrat/Liberal" Rank 6 Contributor FTX.US, Washington, DC Total Contributions $39,884,256 Total Hard Money $1,047,256 Total Outside Money $38,837,000 To Democrats $36,846,356 To Republicans $240,200 The Republicans recipients: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried-prolific-donor-republicans https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/ftx-founder-sam-bankman... "In addition, Bankman-Fried wired maximum individual donations to Boozman and incumbent Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Hoeven of North Dakota and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska throughout the election cycle." Collins, Burr, Cassidy, and Murkowski are strongly aligned against Trump. Boozman received his contribution(s) during his primary against Jake Bequette, a strongly pro-Trump Republican. Hoeven likewise during his primary race against Rick Becker, another strongly pro-Trump Republican. Also Boozman: https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/22/11/29676699/sam-bankman-fried-backed-bill-to-regulate-digital-assets-finds-support-from-several-senato https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/22/11/296766... "Stabenow noted that she is working with her Republican counterpart on the committee, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark), and regulators to finalize the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA) bill in preparation for a committee vote. DCCPA gives power to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to regulate the trading of digital commodities. This bill was backed by Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of the crypto exchange FTX."