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Comment by me_again | Hacker News Reader

I raised an eyebrow at "This was a group of idealists... all in pursuit of a higher mission." It's buying into the whole "SBF was just a crazy kid with big dreams who wasn't too great at counting the money" mythos.

I don't know any of them personally but "This was a group of scam artists in pursuit of a bigger payout." seems closer to the mark.

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One lesson of the last ten years is the wealthy in the US are stunningly bad at spotting scam artists that appeal to their ideas of what an idealist should look like.

Arguably many people have this weakness and merely lack the resources to deploy when it is triggered.

There's an alternative explanation: if you're good enough at convincing me to invest with you, you'll do the same with others. As long as I'm in early, you will make me money, even if I know the house of cards will eventually crumble. By then, I won't be a bag holder. (Probably.)

I.e. greed and pride/hubris. The idealist image is just the current behavior that the investor expects will attract subsequent investors. This would explain bubbles much better than "rich people seem to be taking random walks."

Edit: A.k.a. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory, though my point is it's not driven by foolishness.

You’re an optimist! I would argue the Sequoia writings about SBF and the farce with Theranos indicates these people actually did believe what they were being sold.

I guess one interpretation is Sequoia were the greater fool.

I used to put some amount of stock into the idea that he could've just been reckless. It's been pretty clear in the trial that at least all of the top leadership not only knew but were in on the scam, thinking they'd make and move enough money consistently to keep things going.

It's more curious to me how a bunch of people from Jane Street could believe anything like a Ponzi can keep going.

The other thing about the “crazy kid with big dreams” thing that really bugs me is that real altruism is putting others above one’s self.

Effective Altruism, on the other hand, is roughly the belief that you, personally, should be the savior of all mankind and should also get fabulously wealthy along the way. It’s just pure egotism with good PR.

I couldn't even read the entire article after that ... just skimmed it. Even if they had some kind of believe in crypto tech, in the end it was about getting rich via whatever that would take.

..."idealists"...

I wonder what the ideal was?

"Ideally, we'll make you lots and lots of money."

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