There were clear ways in which he was really bad at things, but also, clear ways that he was really good at some things. The FTX exchange is not something easy to build, and it’s much harder still to make it into a successful exchange like he did. Seems pretty clear he was really skilled at some things, despite his big weaknesses. But I don’t think it can be dismissed as just that he was bad at stuff. Also, him being bad at stuff doesn’t explain highly unethical actions that he appears to have taken.
I think SBF was bad at the same kinds of things that other high-functioning sociopaths tend to be bad at, e.g. problems stemming from
relative aversion to doing boring low-stimulation things (e.g. maintaining a spreadsheet)
conversely, a relative penchant for arousal-seeking / thrill-seeking (psychologically I think this stems from global under-arousal),
relative lack of seriousness about avoiding downside risks (psychologically I think this stems from lack of visceral worry about such things)
All the “mismanagement” examples that @cata mentioned seem to fit into those categories, more or less, I think.
For example, I recall hearing that high-functioning sociopaths in general tend to be terrible at managing their finances and often wind up in debt. I can’t immediately find where I heard that, but it is very true for both of the high-functioning sociopaths that I’ve known personally.
There were clear ways in which he was really bad at things, but also, clear ways that he was really good at some things. The FTX exchange is not something easy to build, and it’s much harder still to make it into a successful exchange like he did. Seems pretty clear he was really skilled at some things, despite his big weaknesses. But I don’t think it can be dismissed as just that he was bad at stuff. Also, him being bad at stuff doesn’t explain highly unethical actions that he appears to have taken.
I think SBF was bad at the same kinds of things that other high-functioning sociopaths tend to be bad at, e.g. problems stemming from
relative aversion to doing boring low-stimulation things (e.g. maintaining a spreadsheet)
conversely, a relative penchant for arousal-seeking / thrill-seeking (psychologically I think this stems from global under-arousal),
relative lack of seriousness about avoiding downside risks (psychologically I think this stems from lack of visceral worry about such things)
All the “mismanagement” examples that @cata mentioned seem to fit into those categories, more or less, I think.
For example, I recall hearing that high-functioning sociopaths in general tend to be terrible at managing their finances and often wind up in debt. I can’t immediately find where I heard that, but it is very true for both of the high-functioning sociopaths that I’ve known personally.