Until now, my own impression of SBF was far more skeptical and cynical than the view you ascribe to Lewis, but I don’t think I ever would have thought in terms of psychopathy. (That’s seems at odds with the whole altruism piece of it, but maybe not...)
I had him pegged more as a product of the techno-fetishizing generation: overly confident, reckless and impulsive, fake-it-till-you-make-it, move-fast-and-break-things, often living on prescription drugs and a piss-poor diet. (Then again, I see that personality type everywhere, as my own recent post about Columbus is an example of. Freud might have something to say about that.)
It’d be interesting to know more about that side of SBF’s psychology, but I get the feeling that Lewis’ book is not the place to get that.
I should have mentioned the drugs. That's another classical indication of psychopathy. Honestly, I wasn't expecting that to be the conclusion I drew from the book, my impression of SBF was a lot closer to yours. But as I was getting to the end of the book I was like "Wait a second, this all sounds very familiar..." So I double checked the symptoms of antisocial personality disorder and my jaw kind of hit the floor.
Lewis makes clear in the book that SBF's attraction to EA isn't based in a sense of empathy but instead a commitment to the rationality of utility calculations. And he gave an infamous interview to Vox where he said that his public moral commitments were just a ruse to get people to give him money. But he did give away over a billion dollars to EA-related charity. So I don't know. I think it's important to remember that psychopathy isn't the same thing as evil. It's just one way that your brain can be miswired that's particularly unpleasant for other people.
You mentioned the drugs briefly, but didn’t pull on the thread. I remember another post on/via ACX, however, that went deep on psycho-chemical aspects.
Interesting about EA as commitment to utility function and joke-not-joke (we need a good word for this) about a ruse to get money.
“…psychopathy isn't the same thing as evil. It's just one way that your brain can be miswired that's particularly unpleasant for other people.”
Intellectually, I knew that. But your articulation of it (“…particularly unpleasant for other people”) performed an instant reframe for me. I could practically feel grey matter move around when I read it. 😉
Good review.
Until now, my own impression of SBF was far more skeptical and cynical than the view you ascribe to Lewis, but I don’t think I ever would have thought in terms of psychopathy. (That’s seems at odds with the whole altruism piece of it, but maybe not...)
I had him pegged more as a product of the techno-fetishizing generation: overly confident, reckless and impulsive, fake-it-till-you-make-it, move-fast-and-break-things, often living on prescription drugs and a piss-poor diet. (Then again, I see that personality type everywhere, as my own recent post about Columbus is an example of. Freud might have something to say about that.)
It’d be interesting to know more about that side of SBF’s psychology, but I get the feeling that Lewis’ book is not the place to get that.
I should have mentioned the drugs. That's another classical indication of psychopathy. Honestly, I wasn't expecting that to be the conclusion I drew from the book, my impression of SBF was a lot closer to yours. But as I was getting to the end of the book I was like "Wait a second, this all sounds very familiar..." So I double checked the symptoms of antisocial personality disorder and my jaw kind of hit the floor.
Lewis makes clear in the book that SBF's attraction to EA isn't based in a sense of empathy but instead a commitment to the rationality of utility calculations. And he gave an infamous interview to Vox where he said that his public moral commitments were just a ruse to get people to give him money. But he did give away over a billion dollars to EA-related charity. So I don't know. I think it's important to remember that psychopathy isn't the same thing as evil. It's just one way that your brain can be miswired that's particularly unpleasant for other people.
You mentioned the drugs briefly, but didn’t pull on the thread. I remember another post on/via ACX, however, that went deep on psycho-chemical aspects.
Interesting about EA as commitment to utility function and joke-not-joke (we need a good word for this) about a ruse to get money.
“…psychopathy isn't the same thing as evil. It's just one way that your brain can be miswired that's particularly unpleasant for other people.”
Intellectually, I knew that. But your articulation of it (“…particularly unpleasant for other people”) performed an instant reframe for me. I could practically feel grey matter move around when I read it. 😉