5 ms·

Seems like a good time to remember this deleted hagiography of SBF by Sequoia: https://web.archive.org/web/20221027180943/https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/sam

by srge 4y ago

Seems like a good time to remember this deleted hagiography of SBF by Sequoia: https://web.archive.org/web/20221027180943/https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/sam-bankman-fried-spotlight/ https://web.archive.org/web/20221027180943/https://www.sequo...

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
mvineetmenon 4y ago
Lol.. Twitter was flooded with screenshots of such articles (paid or otherwise) praising SBF.
- throwawaylinux 4y ago
  I think a lot of journalists, experts, and politicians arrived at the same conclusion around the same time, which is that credibility isn't worth bothering with because there's a base level of people who will unquestioningly believe them if they make them feel the right way. If you're angry at the right people and causes, and you "stand with" and support the correct things, then truth and reason is not relevant. Actually it's something dangerous to be feared, because it could cause uncomfortable emotions.
  - the_snooze 4y ago
    > credibility isn't worth bothering with because there's a base level of people who will unquestioningly believe them if they make them feel the right way It reminds me of this tweet/picture/article >Rebecca Grossman’s perfect life became a perfect nightmare. “Everything changed in a split second—overnight,” she tells Los Angeles during a half-hour Zoom call from her lawyer’s office in October. that conveniently buries the lede that she was a drunk who ran down and killed two kids. https://twitter.com/LAmag/status/1594917490366337025 https://twitter.com/LAmag/status/1594917490366337025
rjzzleep 4y ago
Better title would be: "I wouldn't take advice from sequoia if my life depended on it and you should not either"
NickRandom 4y ago
Thanks for the link. There are some real gems in there and also made for an interesting read as a non-cryptonite (in other words I have no dog in the fight, skin in the game etc). "He only gave himself a 20 percent chance of success, but, in his mind, SBF needed extreme risk to maximize the expected value of his lifetime earnings—and, therefore, the good his earn-to-give strategy could do. The fact that he was, by his own lights, overwhelmingly likely to fail was beside the point." I guess that the whole mess boils down to a few old chestnuts - #1) Don't bet money you can't afford to lose (investors) and also that #2) you can only run at the red-line in terms of pharmacology for so long before it bites you in the arse.
- smcl 4y ago
  I'd take the "effective altruism" and long-termism stuff with a pinch of salt. Just seems like a way for wealthy people to justify hanging onto or acquiring boatloads of assets and saying "ah but it's for the good of humanity that I alone possess all this wealth"
  - stephc_int13 4y ago
    Yeah, this narrative is getting debunked as we speak. Long overdue.
  - spicyusername 4y ago
    It's a shame a few really visible assholes are ruining the public's perception of what is otherwise very reasonable. The bit about making as much money money as you can is not at all what effective altruism is about, but as usual nuance is the first thing to go when social or traditional media reports on something.
    - i_am_jl 4y ago
      This. Effective Altruism is not the same as Earning to Give, and I really wish that the distinction was being made more clear. You can embrace EA to, for instance, make the most of the $1,000 you give to charity every year. There's nothing nefarious about asking "Where does this money do the most good?" Earning to Give is a becoming a bit of a nightmare though as it's turning out that a lot of people embracing and pushing Earn to Give aren't giving as much as they're keeping, and aren't earning as much as they're stealing.
JKCalhoun 4y ago
Thanks for the new word too.
dopamean 4y ago
I've seen this linked many times but only just now got around to reading it and... this is really embarrassing for the author. Never mind that the guy who he says will be a trillionaire one day turned out to be a fraud. The writing itself is awful. He starts by breathlessly describing how "risk neutral" SBF is and then not long after describes SBFs need for "extreme risk" when looking for his next venture (which led to FTX). He comes off as obsequious and uninformed. It's bizarre. He's also somewhat self aggrandizing. Like he knows something others don't. "I don't know how I know, I just do. SBF is a winner." My guy, SBF was allegedly worth 20+ billion already and you're predicting that he'll be a winner? It's like predicting that Brazil, up 4 goals at the half, will win the game.
- bmitc 4y ago
  > He comes off as obsequious and uninformed. It's bizarre. He's also somewhat self aggrandizing. Sounds like every venture capitalist to me. Most of them got lucky selling some random software company to Yahoo or some analogous route or riding the biggest tech and stock boom in history but come out thinking they’re oracles and literally better than everyone else. Couple that with cult of personality and the worship they get.
- latchkey 4y ago
  The author (who was hired to write the article) pinned tweet: https://twitter.com/AdamcFisher/status/1590466104773992448 https://twitter.com/AdamcFisher/status/1590466104773992448 and a follow up when called out on it: https://twitter.com/AdamcFisher/status/1590805407949533184 https://twitter.com/AdamcFisher/status/1590805407949533184 "Lots of lessons" indeed.
  - atdrummond 4y ago
    Unrelated but any chance you could email me? I’m looking to buy/rent some RX Radeons for mining and your posts on the subject have been very helpful. Have some questions that I hope you could help with.
    - latchkey 4y ago
sroussey 4y ago
> SBF was acting uncharacteristically shifty. There were several canceled coffee dates, and when the two finally did get together … SBF evaded even the most innocuous of questions. I mean, yeah, wow, this could have been seen as a view to the future.

by srge 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

mvineetmenon 4y ago

Lol.. Twitter was flooded with screenshots of such articles (paid or otherwise) praising SBF.

throwawaylinux 4y ago
I think a lot of journalists, experts, and politicians arrived at the same conclusion around the same time, which is that credibility isn't worth bothering with because there's a base level of people who will unquestioningly believe them if they make them feel the right way. If you're angry at the right people and causes, and you "stand with" and support the correct things, then truth and reason is not relevant. Actually it's something dangerous to be feared, because it could cause uncomfortable emotions.
- the_snooze 4y ago
  > credibility isn't worth bothering with because there's a base level of people who will unquestioningly believe them if they make them feel the right way It reminds me of this tweet/picture/article >Rebecca Grossman’s perfect life became a perfect nightmare. “Everything changed in a split second—overnight,” she tells Los Angeles during a half-hour Zoom call from her lawyer’s office in October. that conveniently buries the lede that she was a drunk who ran down and killed two kids. https://twitter.com/LAmag/status/1594917490366337025 https://twitter.com/LAmag/status/1594917490366337025

rjzzleep 4y ago

Better title would be: "I wouldn't take advice from sequoia if my life depended on it and you should not either"

NickRandom 4y ago

Thanks for the link. There are some real gems in there and also made for an interesting read as a non-cryptonite (in other words I have no dog in the fight, skin in the game etc). "He only gave himself a 20 percent chance of success, but, in his mind, SBF needed extreme risk to maximize the expected value of his lifetime earnings—and, therefore, the good his earn-to-give strategy could do. The fact that he was, by his own lights, overwhelmingly likely to fail was beside the point." I guess that the whole mess boils down to a few old chestnuts - #1) Don't bet money you can't afford to lose (investors) and also that #2) you can only run at the red-line in terms of pharmacology for so long before it bites you in the arse.

smcl 4y ago
I'd take the "effective altruism" and long-termism stuff with a pinch of salt. Just seems like a way for wealthy people to justify hanging onto or acquiring boatloads of assets and saying "ah but it's for the good of humanity that I alone possess all this wealth"
- stephc_int13 4y ago
  Yeah, this narrative is getting debunked as we speak. Long overdue.
- spicyusername 4y ago
  It's a shame a few really visible assholes are ruining the public's perception of what is otherwise very reasonable. The bit about making as much money money as you can is not at all what effective altruism is about, but as usual nuance is the first thing to go when social or traditional media reports on something.
  - i_am_jl 4y ago
    This. Effective Altruism is not the same as Earning to Give, and I really wish that the distinction was being made more clear. You can embrace EA to, for instance, make the most of the $1,000 you give to charity every year. There's nothing nefarious about asking "Where does this money do the most good?" Earning to Give is a becoming a bit of a nightmare though as it's turning out that a lot of people embracing and pushing Earn to Give aren't giving as much as they're keeping, and aren't earning as much as they're stealing.

JKCalhoun 4y ago

Thanks for the new word too.

dopamean 4y ago

I've seen this linked many times but only just now got around to reading it and... this is really embarrassing for the author. Never mind that the guy who he says will be a trillionaire one day turned out to be a fraud. The writing itself is awful. He starts by breathlessly describing how "risk neutral" SBF is and then not long after describes SBFs need for "extreme risk" when looking for his next venture (which led to FTX). He comes off as obsequious and uninformed. It's bizarre. He's also somewhat self aggrandizing. Like he knows something others don't. "I don't know how I know, I just do. SBF is a winner." My guy, SBF was allegedly worth 20+ billion already and you're predicting that he'll be a winner? It's like predicting that Brazil, up 4 goals at the half, will win the game.

bmitc 4y ago
> He comes off as obsequious and uninformed. It's bizarre. He's also somewhat self aggrandizing. Sounds like every venture capitalist to me. Most of them got lucky selling some random software company to Yahoo or some analogous route or riding the biggest tech and stock boom in history but come out thinking they’re oracles and literally better than everyone else. Couple that with cult of personality and the worship they get.
latchkey 4y ago
The author (who was hired to write the article) pinned tweet: https://twitter.com/AdamcFisher/status/1590466104773992448 https://twitter.com/AdamcFisher/status/1590466104773992448 and a follow up when called out on it: https://twitter.com/AdamcFisher/status/1590805407949533184 https://twitter.com/AdamcFisher/status/1590805407949533184 "Lots of lessons" indeed.
- atdrummond 4y ago
  Unrelated but any chance you could email me? I’m looking to buy/rent some RX Radeons for mining and your posts on the subject have been very helpful. Have some questions that I hope you could help with.
  - latchkey 4y ago

sroussey 4y ago

> SBF was acting uncharacteristically shifty. There were several canceled coffee dates, and when the two finally did get together … SBF evaded even the most innocuous of questions. I mean, yeah, wow, this could have been seen as a view to the future.