Someone on sneerclub said that he is falling on his sword to protect EA’s reputation, I don’t have a good counterargument to that.
I see a lot of the EA discussion is worried about the public consequences of SBF using EA to justify bad behavior. What if people unfairly conclude EA ideas corrupt people’s thinking and turn them into SBF-alikes? And some concern that EA genuinely could do this.
If you think that is the big danger then I understand how you might conclude SBF saying “I never believed the EA stuff, it was all an act.” is better for EA. Valid thing to worry about (especially about your own thinking), but it’s online rationalists who are worried about this. Looking at this as an outsider, this is missing the forest for the trees.
Much of the public starts from the assumption that rich people giving to charities is all a big scam, generally. Just a means to enrich or empower themselves. EA’s biggest donor admitting it was a scam along is not protecting EA, it’s confirming this model in everyone’s minds. They knew it all along! Every future EA donator will be trivially pattern matched to have the same motives as SBF.
I enjoy reading discussions on EAs role in sub optimal Kelly bet size conclusions. But big picture that is not the the biggest danger by far.
I see a lot of the EA discussion is worried about the public consequences of SBF using EA to justify bad behavior. What if people unfairly conclude EA ideas corrupt people’s thinking and turn them into SBF-alikes? And some concern that EA genuinely could do this.
If you think that is the big danger then I understand how you might conclude SBF saying “I never believed the EA stuff, it was all an act.” is better for EA. Valid thing to worry about (especially about your own thinking), but it’s online rationalists who are worried about this. Looking at this as an outsider, this is missing the forest for the trees.
Much of the public starts from the assumption that rich people giving to charities is all a big scam, generally. Just a means to enrich or empower themselves. EA’s biggest donor admitting it was a scam along is not protecting EA, it’s confirming this model in everyone’s minds. They knew it all along! Every future EA donator will be trivially pattern matched to have the same motives as SBF.
I enjoy reading discussions on EAs role in sub optimal Kelly bet size conclusions. But big picture that is not the the biggest danger by far.