Sam Bankman-Fried & Effective Altruism: A Conversation with Will MacAskill (Episode

Sam Harris speaks with William MacAskill about the implosion of FTX and the effect that it has had on the Effective Altruism movement. They discuss the logic of “earning to give,” the mind of SBF, his philanthropy, the character of the EA community, potential problems with focusing on long-term outcomes, AI risk, the effects of the FTX collapse on Will personally, and other topics.
William MacAskill is an associate professor of moral philosophy at Oxford University, and author of Doing Good Better, Moral Uncertainty, and What We Owe The Future. He cofounded the nonprofits 80,000 Hours, Centre for Effective Altruism, and Giving What We Can, and helped to launch the effective altruism movement, which encourages people to use their time and money to support the projects that are most effectively making the world a better place.
Website: ​​www.williammacaskill.com
Twitter: @willmacaskill
April 1, 2024
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[@SevenRiderAirForce]

"If it was a con from the very start, then why would they be trying so hard to get regulated?" George Stigler won the Nobel prize in economics in 1982 for explaining this precise phenomenon. It's called regulatory capture. Regulations are demanded by the regulated entities to protect their position in the market at the expense of their competition and the consumers.

[@kreed4]

Agree. One of many incredibly dumb statements in this pod.

[@pocket83squared]

@@kreed4 Hey, maybe you could post one of your own 1.5 hour conversations, then? if your rate of I.D.S. per "pod" turns out to be less than Harris' (and I'm _sure_ that it would be), then the rest of us will benefit from listening to you-or at least get a good chuckle at the attempt.

[@kreed4]

@@pocket83squared Glad that you agree this was an IDS. Usually Sam is incredibly knowledgeable and logical, so it’s strange how he and his guest so missed the mark here (as has been repeated by so many commenters here).

[@Malt454]

Yeah, just like the bond rating services in 2008, giving Triple-A to virtually everything submitted; once they had the rubber stamp, everyone assumed all of that toxic debt must be A-OK, which is why pension funds bought into it. The difference with the banking crisis was that the fraud was seen as being too broad to prosecute, so the government just bailed them out and said, "Oh well, it's just one of those things".

[@shoahkhan5670]

He was funneling money to the democrats, and most of his investors were the "Silicon Valley" leftists yuppies... The only reason he was fingered was his Ponzi scheme ran out of faux money to give the [D]emocrats.

[@RussellThomason]

SBF was a remorseless psychopath that knowingly and intentionally violated many laws, he deserves every year of his sentence and more. It's super disappointing that Sam Harris doesn't seem to know anything about him or his actions before, and even during, the trial.

[@TheELQOL]

Could you share some specifics? These are bold claims and I am totally ignorant on SBF actions.

[@SevenRiderAirForce]

@@TheELQOL They posted fake numbers on their website/app that were (as mentioned in the podcast, which we know about because of the trial) just the result of random number generators. They absolutely knew that they were defrauding people of huge sums. This guest saying that the RNG "seems to be fraud" is like saying Ted Bundy "seems to be a murderer."

[@SevenRiderAirForce]

@@TheELQOL They posted fake numbers that were the result of a random number generator. SBF siphoned many millions off to his parents in the form of real estate and luxuries. SBF admitted to Coffeezilla on a call that they used money from low risk accounts to backstop the huge losses incurred by Alameda. They used Quicken as their accounting software for crying out loud. SBF and his crew knew exactly what they were doing. By which I mean they had no clue how to run a real finance operation, but they knowingly lied and defrauded their depositors at every turn.

[@GOBATMANWOO]

Coffeezilla has done a lot of work digging into him, better to go watch his videos detailing this than asking in coment sections for people to do a much worse job of that.

[@matttzzz2]

​@GOBATMANWOO yeah I'll go watch a 6 hour video on something you can type in a few dot points, great idea, chief.

[@kreed4]

Disappointing recap. These guys seem to gloss over the use of customer deposits to cover Alameda’s positions. That’s a bright red line that is not crossed inadvertently. They may not have started with ill intentions, but they all broke bad at that moment. Rather than just letting Alameda implode, they knowingly committed crimes in the hopes of saving it. Not that complicated.

[@abhishekbhandari6362]

100% agreed. He is intentionally choosing not to cover specific stuff to solidify the argument he is trying to make. There is no way that someone as smart as Sam Harris does not know the details about this if he is prepared to talk so much about it. It really is strange.

[@originss4717]

@@abhishekbhandari6362 Sam Harris is very selective in presenting ideas. It has been always the case and in the last few years it has been only increasing.

[@frankxu4795]

And the justification for SBF's sentence being "unfair" is people who committed worse crimes got lighter sentence. It is honestly difficult to hear a person as logical as Sam Harris committed as many logic fallacies to save a lost cause called effective altruism.

[@ianjohnson4383]

The quote from SBF: “… this dumb game we woke westerners play where we say all the right shibboleths [sic] and so everyone likes us”

[@xanderlewis]

Why the [sic]?

[@pbfoley]

As a Harris fan this was incredibly difficult to listen to without getting frustrated. 1. Them both agreeing SBF got too much prison time and 2. How naive both Harris and Will sound throughout. Truly astonishing. It's not often SH misses the mark, but man the naivety is off the charts for this conversation.

[@shoahkhan5670]

If you haven't yet cottoned-on to the bleedingly blatant, bagel biases of the "$amuel", I don't know what to say... 🥴

[@Malt454]

@@shoahkhan5670 - Maybe wake up and realize that antisemitism is still stupid and out of fashion?

[@justopinions5919]

Your comment comes off as way more naive to me TBH. Harris and his guest are obviously intelligent enough to know exactly what they're doing.

[@shoahkhan5670]

@@Malt454 The Orwellian algorithms are on your (the sheoples') side... For now.

[@pbfoley]

@@justopinions5919 "obviously intelligent enough" to discern what exactly? What is your evidence for this specific claim?

[@joshyman221]

I doubt you’ll read this Sam but I was very intrigued by your conversation with Alex O Connor recently, particularly at the end where you discuss what you’re missing in Bach. I couldn’t imagine my life without music, particularly Bach and Beethoven. Indeed many of my experiences with this music (in particularly exalting circumstances) supersedes any other experience I’ve had. I believe it’s actually a similar experience to what you achieve through your meditation and mindfulness of the self. The philosopher Schopenhauer seemed to pickup this correspondence though I haven’t read him much. Would be delighted if you could get a well trained philosopher with interest in music on to discuss this. If no such exists, I might have to write something on this because it just seems so fruitful a link.

[@stochastic42]

If you want to have a more profound experience, try 5-7g of mushrooms in a comfortable and safe setting.

[@dermotmeuchner2416]

@@stochastic42Read the adventures of Don Juan. No need for psychedelics if you can achieve mindful meditation.

[@matttzzz2]

I think he's referring to me when he said some people complained they asked for a free account but didn't get one. I asked for a free account a while back, didn't hear anything back. But i didn't ask again because I don't want to get it for free. I can't afford it yet, but don't want to be given a hand out.

[@stochastic42]

@@matttzzz2 I should mind my own business but I don't think this follows the same ethical principle that would normally guide one to refuse a handout. It's only access to information the other party is trading their content for your attention, both of which are valuable.

[@yogaasana6019]

Sam's lack of interest in music says a lot about his cognitive abilities, sadly. He's smart as a whip on some things but it seems there are a LOT of areas where he simply can't concentrate. He also seems declined to accept advice; I get the skepticism but not everyone is trying to fuck you over Sam.

[@johnwillis8223]

Almost never disagree with Sam but SBF should have had twice that sentence

[@dustin2215]

Agreed. SBF should've got the max.

[@abhishekbhandari6362]

Ya, Sam Harris's vehement defence of SBF is so strange in that it is an unusually bad take, but somehow he is so confident.

[@Wow_g_you_da_god]

@@abhishekbhandari6362 100% agree bro. Sams has lost his mind on this one. What a bad take!

[@abhishekbhandari6362]

@@Wow_g_you_da_god Ya, I don't whats going on, but I find myself disagreeing more and more with so many from the IDW.

[@matttzzz2]

I'm sure you guys are more in touch with reality, psychology, morality, etc. than Sam. You guys should educate him on why he is wrong!

[@ahmetdogan5685]

Smart but inexperienced can be a deadly mixture.

[@jafrasar1]

In so many industries -this is SOOOO true. Just because you have 1 skill set doesn’t mean, you know how to lead- ANYTHING.

[@davidbarry6900]

Agreed. This misadventure has a lot more in common with how Iceland's new banks made the country bankrupt during the 2008 GFC, than with a Ponzi fraud. That is, these companies were run by people who were very smart, but who didn't have any of the institutional experience nor internal structural checks and balances that older banks and financial institutions had developed (over time, to deal with occasional crises and to try comply with regulatory requirements). They simply didn't know how dangerous it could be to run FTX/Alameida the way they did.

[@wasdwasdedsf]

hes not smart, he thought trum was the second coming of H

[@lordsneed9418]

10:00-13:20 Mcaskill " People were unable to withdraw their money from FTX because their money was gone which should not be possible and means that Sam Bankman Fried had misappropriated their money" Harris : "Hmmm maybe this means that Sam Bankman Fried was trying to do the most good possible but made some silly bets which he was allowed to do given the unregulated nature of the space" No sam, whether you're selling crypto currencies or beanie babies or yugioh cards, you aren't allowed to misappropriate customer funds.

[@yeyito2818]

Never forget lex fridman deleted his interview with this guy when the ftx scandal broke.

[@Ellerich800]

SBF and both of you had a big miss by talking about risk. Instead the problem was the compliance although it doesn't take a genius to know that gambling with clients' deposits is illegal. Also, it was apparent that the rules for which SBF was lobbying with Gensler were meant to lock out competitors. This is also known as regulatory capture.

[@frankxu4795]

Both of them have no clue about risk. Just because it did not wind up being as bad as people thought, does not mean what SBF did was not risky. It's like someone survived jumping from a bridge claim that doing so is not dangerous.

[@pbfoley]

Nashad didn't almost kill himself because of "what happened to the customers", it's because he got caught! Are these two guys for real with their blind spots on this subject?

[@justopinions5919]

Blind spots? IMO that's naive, they are smart enough to know the truth of the situation but too cowardly to actually say it.

[@pbfoley]

@@justopinions5919 so you hear example after example of blind spots, but think it's because they're cowardly? Interesting. What in your evidence for that

[@Malt454]

SBF might have been an odd duck, even among Bond-villain-level scammers, but too much is made of his eccentricities so as to undercut his identification as a scammer. Whether it amounts to actual blind spots or just a weird choice in analysis emphasis, it's a very strange take on a very strange man. It's like being an investor with Madoff and then saying, "but what hurt the most was that he lied to me".

[@pbfoley]

@@Malt454 yes! How strange to let an eccentricity become a scapegoat.

[@justopinions5919]

​@@pbfoley Evidence? Intuition and common sense should more than suffice for anyone with an IQ above room temperature, assuming they've been following the SBF case and understand the details.

[@ericjensen6457]

The justifying here for Fried is gross.

[@andrewapte9981]

Probably the worst episode of the podcast I've ever heard and I've been listening since 2017

[@abhishekbhandari6362]

100% agreed. Jesus. Sam's take in this episode was outrageously stupid. I don't know what happened to him.

[@Chris-fn4df]

@@abhishekbhandari6362we are listening to someone we like for his detachment, defend something and someone he is absolutely not detached from.

[@ngalawena]

SBF invested $500m in Anthropic, which is likely worth more than the $8b loss. That’s gotta count for something, yeah ?

[@wasdwasdedsf]

???

[@jesse5495]

I am a big fan. But I was also very disappointed in where you landed here. I think the line was pretty bright. It was fraud, plain and simple. The ends don’t justify the means and this type of behaviour destroys trust in a free market, democratic society. He should absolutely serve meaningful time and the fact other criminals haven’t for “worse” crimes just means that justice was likely not served in those cases. Sadly, I think you’ve been blinded / biased by this EA movement.

[@thecount3965]

If it was pensioners being stolen from I bet Sam wouldn’t be this blasé about it.

[@user-gy1pu3gq3d]

Sam will justify lying and cheating when done for things he likes. His book against lying seems to be a treatise he intended for defanging his political opponents but not his political allies.

[@frankxu4795]

Does not surprise me. EA by its definition is basically saying that the end justifies the means. The example brought up in this very podcast says someone makes a killing in the market, then hire a bunch of doctors is better than being a doctor. What about those people who suffer during the process of this person "making a killing"? All the collateral damage and however many people get hurt in the process is not part of the equation, as long as in the end a bunch of doctors can be hired by the blood money.

[@jafrasar1]

Really hope you discuss ‘how long’ it may take to REGAIN even half the losses suffered by actual victims/investors. So cute to pair SBF desire for altruism with his riches-meanwhile siphoning it out the back door -with the help of his Alameda co-Horts. SBF’s deceit is astonishing and should be viewed as the millennial Madoff scheme!

[@jafrasar1]

Interview some of the victims to get a 'real sense' of this swindle. Hard to believe Sam Harris thinks a swindler, should've been given more of a pass. The SBF 'bestowed pass' throughout his life, is how we got here.

[@toby9999]

​​@@jafrasar1What pass? And how would interviewing victims make any sense within the context of this discussion? It wouldn't. Your just making cheap shots.

[@ChristianTzurcanu]

This is justified by the principle "Audi Alteram Partem". The true source of the money should have a voice in this presentation.

[@jakeherter]

Right on

[@jafrasar1]

@@ChristianTzurcanu Thanks for bringing this named Latin (???) concept up. Maybe the judge did consider this.

[@paulbrandon422]

People criticizing Sam for platforming SBK seem to be unaware that during its heyday FTX attracted huge investments from some of the most prominent and well-funded venture capital firms and hedge funds in the world. These firms that had the resources to conduct effective due diligence on FTX prior to investing but clearly didn’t. In July 2021, FTX raised $900 million from over 60 investors, including crypto heavyweights such as Coinbase Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, and others. Many of these investors also doubled down on FTX during its last funding round in January 2022.

[@Ellerich800]

And the regulators had the resources to audit FTX to see they were out of compliance. They didn't.

[@jafrasar1]

-perhaps if SBF could REPAY more of his financial victims-and making more whole their losses-the imposed sentence would’ve been less. The judge wasn’t certain SBF wouldn’t find another avenue to ‘recommit’ similar shenanigans. It’s hard to hear the description ‘morally motivated’ and SBF in the same sentence. Where was his moral motivation during this debacle. How much money did he actually donate-just curious?

[@maynardgent6708]

A target of 10k people to join EA equates to about £50m if they're mainly middle income earners. Is it really worth the bother?

[@vadim1831]

"Colorful anecdotes". I'll take it.

[@toby9999]

Thank you for uploading this brilliantly nuanced discussion. Excellent stuff. Your and your guest's thoughts are very much inline with my own.

[@Cracks84]

I wish I could have talk with Sam. Give him some sense of reality. For a smart man he's wrong on a lot of stuff.

[@Dermsurg1]

Rot in prison, SBF!

[@llIIIIlllIIIllI]

That was quite the endorsement by Sam

[@Cinnabuns2009]

Entire guest argument based on @20:15 where he says, "I THINK what happened was...." ??? One can not and must not 'assume' they know the mental state of someone else in completely different circumstances to which they have never been in those circumstances as well. The most logical reason behind calling someone directly after you get off the phone with 'important information' would either be to tell them about it or warn them about it which was what the CEO of McKinsey did. Assuming something about that gentleman and then using that as a backer for SBF is a serious reach. People that are part of the fleece seemingly never buy in to their own part in believing. They continue thinking it must have been a mistake or "things went wrong but they didn't start that way" and that wasn't their goal because they refuse to accept they made a bad decision believing. We can only ascribe they never cared about effective altruism but taking advantage of those folks is very easy as they proved with many of those folks still supporting him? Crazy. Also remember, most people certainly neither of these two is a criminal mind. They're not pathological liars. These are people (SBF) who's thought process is nothing like you and me. There is no way to know what their thought process would be or assume anything about it off-the-cuff without seriously monitoring them for days/weeks/months. Just speculation here but I'd personally more equate his arguments to someone who's trying to 'soften' the image of SBF in public sentiment so SBF has a leg to stand on with things like, time-served, appeals, etc. Anything to help SBF lessen his sentence.

[@jeffreychavey4161]

SBF simply didn't grow up with boundaries and that cost him dearly

[@anuragsinha2013]

Isn't he the guy you promoted?

[@dandybufo9664]

A good reminder to make another donation to Effective Altruism . Thanks, Sam and Will !

[@jackcoley6692]

This is the most off the mark podcast ive ever listended to from Sam. And I am disappointed that both of them came off as apologists for a literal scam. Sbf started an off shore exchange and either purposely or negligently embezzeled (they called it "investing") assets that didnt belong to him or 'alameda' in violation of his own TOS. Dude is a criminal and deserves every year he got.

[@jakeherter]

Inflated the value of assets they made up and used to get huge loans, like wtf

[@chalfontstgiles4307]

I read that there were three suicides amongst those who's lives were affected by the scam.

[@TheVigilante2000]

SBF is an evil criminal. Now you many say 'evil, he didn't kill anyone', well you can be evil as hell and never get around to the old kill/rape/torture. It's not a checklist action that makes you evil. Evil is in your heart.

[@CP-nl2zb]

​@@jakeherterSam is part of the establishment. Big pharma Permanent Washington Unaparty Military Industrial complex Censorship Industrial complex Federal Reserve system. You name the corrupt organization and Sam supports it.

[@berrutti_]

Yes. Insane. Both of them fell for this guy when they should've been more diligent seeing where this dude was making this money. They saw the big $$$ and invited and defended the guy like everyone else.

[@davidcharak561]

Effective Autism movement?

[@asdfkjidf]

Why is Sam indulging the idea that this guy wasn’t just a scam artist. It’s very strange how UNEVEN Sam’s generosity is when it comes to some peoples motivations vs others

[@FlopsEgo]

Will is my favorite guest ever on this pod. Great content

[@Starfish2145]

The effective altruism thing was just a con by SBF.

[@maynardgent6708]

I think it's time for a new jingle, something which doesn't make all episodes sound like the beginning of a tense spy movie

[@pensulpusher2729]

Too long?! The only thing that’s unfair are the people you referenced who get less time for worse!

[@codynoel1721]

No joke. It’s an argument for harsher penalties for others that gamble with other people’s retirement, not an argument for being softer on financial conmen.

[@rattle7215]

Happy April Fools

[@skepticusmaximus184]

I seem to remember a time when the only special occasions you'd hear such things were merry Christmas and Happy birthday. I suppose happy Easter might have been used, but I don't really remember it as a kid 45+ years ago. Happy Thanksgiving might always been traditional, but we don't celebrate that here in Australia. But now we have people wishing each other happy Halloween, that definitely wasn't a thing 10 or 15 years ago. But Happy April fools? Srsly? Not that I don't want people to be happy, but it's just getting so redundant and over used. It's not even for special occasions now. Happy Tuesday everybody. 🙄

[@holzhausholz8215]

​@@skepticusmaximus184sure, okay

[@PaulMellender]

Yes…it was deliberate fraud. It was cultivated and maintained. He was not doing the maximum amount of good. Did he even hit a minimum amount of good or was he detrimental? This is contorting to rationalize.

[@user-gt7lf8qq2v]

It is not easy to manage, but we need to pay extra attention to our temperament because this is the major gauge prediction of what our future would become. Attitudes and behaviour play a crucial role.

[@landonnelson1864]

Thanks Sam!

[@frankxu4795]

This is some of the most ridiculous defense for SBF I have seen in a while. MacAskill claimed that customers would have been fine and the problem is with misusing customer fund. That's not the problem at all. This guy has no bloody clue of what risk is. SBF was taking huge risk and making big gamble. Yes, it did not wind up being as bad as it could get, but it does not mean the act did not have the potential of being a catastrophe. It is like someone survived jumping from a bridge then claimed that doing so is not that dangerous. That's survivorship bias

[@yeyito2818]

Funny he doesnt remember who introduced him to sbf. whitney webb remembers

[@playmesalsa]

Gullible investors felt for the idea that you can be greedy and at the same time a goody goody. Bankman just wanted the maximum amount of good for himself.

[@QwertyCanada]

April Fools Day podcast by Sam Harris. Welcome to Coping Podcast, this is Sam Coper.

[@kreed4]

Seriously. I thought this might actually have been a prank, given the incredible ignorance exhibited.

[@observerone6727]

If one ever arrives at the full realization of how random all this is, they either self-destruct, or get back up and go on with a much deeper knowingness of their assumed/random hopes, purpose, and causes. But it is definitely strange to move and act, even feel hollow, after seeing how arbitrary our wants, hopes, and motivations are, and wondering where they came from. Life force is a strange and wonderful thing.

[@ericsynchrona5495]

Whats up

[@redness1924]

Sam thinks the SBF sentence was unfair but I bet he thinks the $450 million judgement against Trump was.

[@jardennis4nd]

When your name is redness, I'm unclear how you found this.

[@sh856531]

Trump should be in prison. Fingers crossed

[@joshm960]

J sums it up…

[@amandamichelle3063]

The comment-bots have integrated emotionally charged words with internet search content. Fascinating. *eats popcorn* *chokes* *feels anger at real life for no reason until I blurt the first thing that comes to mind* *copy pastes first string of words that appear* *feels super confident it translates my discomfort perfectly*

[@skoby7436]

Greetings Sam Harris. I was wondering if you could make more videos about mushrooms. Keep up the great work 😊

[@-Gramps]

Hi Sam. Subscriber via I ❤️ Radio here. It strikes me that the E/A Movement is somewhat self congratulatory as being a new career/lifestyle model. My wife & I are almost 70, & we, + numerous friends decided in 1974 to give substantial time, money, & our professional expertise (medicine) to worthy charities. In addition, we were foster parents to 11 different kids + 1 that we adopted. My wife & I made this pledge when we married at age 19, making $2.60/hr while attending college. I’m not religious, so we donated to a few select children’s hospitals, & continue to do so. Your guest is new to me, but he seemed, IMHO, to be asserting that the idea of working to “give back” was another invention of the “tech bros.” I don’t believe, for a moment, that SBF could not have accessed a sizable percentage of his $30B if the corporate bylaws were structured with giving in mind.

[@frankxu4795]

E/A movement typically has two main signatures: 1. People in that group do not have to do anything now, by pledging something in the future that they very likely may not do. 2. End justifies the means. It does not surprise me at all that SBF belongs to that group.

[@carpenoctem7307]

This was the interview where I knew Sam Bankman was guilty: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3nMnK1_p5t6p5o (also his last interview before being arrested)

[@foomax8500]

Robin Hood

[@holzhausholz8215]

Yes, exactly what I was thinking! Some kind of weird Robin Hood complex

[@geordangundelfinger]

25 years for financial crimes is insane. People regularly get less for murder, rape, and kidnapping.

[@ryccoh]

Lol the whole government debt bubble is about to collapse, all 8 billion people are about to lose their ass harder than whatever happened with FTX since the whole world is on the US dollar. Sam once again completely behind the curve

[@thunderstruck1078]

Isn't he one of yours?

[@mrtambourineman6107]

Is this episode an April Fools joke??

[@richardcox7926]

It is evolution. Our value as humans has nothing to do with money.

[@Ajmorno1]

The fact someone as intelligent as Sam Harris said the two options here are SBF knew he was doing something illegal but ultimately it would lead to a net benefit to the world at large or it was a scam from the start is astonishing. I think it’s clear as day if you followed any of this story, (even a cursory glance at some of the details) that what happened could not in any way be construed as being done for potential good even if the outcome was positive Secondly, it was a scam from the start being the only other option? to paraphrase Sam “this is a failure of imagination”. Like most collapses this is likely a tail of chasing losses and covering it up illegally hoping it comes good and in this case with a healthy dose of incompetence, naivety, malevolence, youth and lack of empathy

[@gilfiazon2575]

Hard to believe there is anyone who didn’t know SBF was full of shit from day one…

[@ebendaggett704]

People see what they want to see, and nothing more (or less).

[@someoneelse293]

Hindsight 2020

[@Sunfried1]

Sam’s speaking style can be easily caricatured; he loves his jargon and metaphors, his micro-pauses that give the impression of a thoughtful philosophy nerd. In this podcast, he gives the topic the requisite “ top spin “ and one might think he had some “skin in the game “ all the while hypothesizing about SBF’s “theory of mind.”

[@TheKentuckyNightmare]

I once marveled at his ability to get an entire hour into a podcast before saying, "defenestrated." Dude acts like he saved up for years to buy that word.

[@Jay-pw7pg]

Serious Question 🙋🏼‍♂️ 🔰🔰🔰🔰🔰🔰🔰 Dear AI Aficionados: Can you be so kind as to help me figure out a few things as a newcomer? 1) What are the best AI assistant options today, paid, for helping me to research a subject - let’s say AGI? So for example let’s say I ask the AI assistant to make me a list of the most relevant, respected, experts currently on the subject of AGI and mental health. And then ask for a list of the most critical journal articles, book chapters, videos, groups etc on the same subject? I’m willing to pay a monthly subscription of a $100 or so. 2) I should ask if this kind of AI assistant even exists yet? And if so, are there different kinds of AI assistants - for example academic experts, sports médecine experts, etc - or is it basically the same AI assistant tech can do all subjects and needs?

[@yogaasana6019]

MacAskill's constant giggling creeps me out. Much of it seems really inappropriate. Could this be another instance of Sam choosing the wrong people for his podcasts? Having just read Peter Zeihan's book Absent Superpower and how poor the "predictions" are/were in that book (though Peter is a good writer and certainly did a ton of research for it), I'm beginning to have my doubts about Sam's judgement or at least his ability to choose the best guests. That said there are quite a few gems in his podcastalia, but this wasn't one.

[@redghost289]

Guard your wallet.

[@dingosmith9932]

Prehaps a little conceptual surgery on those neuro-atypical people committed to polyamoury Sam?

[@SuperKackackac]

SBF is a Scanner that it ! There are many more knowladgable people about that soubjevt Sam. For ex lot of the crypto guys like Cobie or Ledger from Up only, they could tell the story better !

[@nyworker]

Obvious tragic consequences and this underscores the frighteningly phenomenon of self denial and group denial.

[@alanrobertson3172]

I'm absolutely baffled and, frankly, disappointed by Will and Sam's defense of someone who has clearly crossed the line. The fact that this individual is now serving a 25-year sentence for his colossal fraud speaks volumes about the gravity of his actions. His conviction is a victory for justice, but it's also a stark reminder of the reputational harm endured by those who stood by him, including Sam and Will. Their support for such a figure is not only misguided but deeply troubling. It's a sad day when we have to face the embarrassment of this conviction, highlighting a serious lapse in judgment. This whole situation is a cautionary tale about the company we keep and the causes we choose to defend.

[@cmhardin37]

The altruism topic is so boring

[@jonafaria]

“Earn to Give” what a fucking joke… in what universe? lmfao~

[@possumface2425]

Quite clearly not in yours.

[@sydneyclouatre1950]

Reinventing the tithe and then removing all moral obligations and calling it effective altruism

[@byggarn]

Hitler wasnt vegetarian.

[@5starcomment]

What he did required protein...

[@yogaasana6019]

No but he WAS a Catholic...

[@EmisoraRadioPatio]

@yogaasana6019 By baptism yes, but he loathed Christianity and wished Germans were Muslim

[@edenalmakias817]

Effective altruism is regarded

[@yeyito2818]

Of course william is gonna defend sams mentality, he mentored him

[@HandgunSafe]

I realize that Sam Harris often sees the good in people, and that Sam is a good person. But SBF is a textbook confidence man, frumpy unassuming exterior, harmless sounding speech, tendency to keep investors focused on irrelevancies. If he hadn't been stopped, he could have done incalculable damage.

[@sharpenedge]

Never forget Sam platformed SBF.

[@CP-nl2zb]

Sam is part of the establishment. Big pharma Permanent Washington Unaparty Military Industrial complex Censorship Industrial complex Federal Reserve system. You name the corrupt organization and Sam supports it.

[@xeroeddie]

How could Sam have known if no one knew at the time? Or did people actually know?

[@DavidFerguson68]

Your iq is low

[@someoneelse293]

And?

[@possumface2425]

Your comment is forgettable.

[@Fenristripplex]

I listened to this and am reminded why I had largely stopped listening to Sam. He's totally lost his way.

[@frankbumstead1804]

Is it so hard to accept that you really miss read this guy? He was not making silly bets he was using assets entrusted to him that should have been secure as leverage. Don't give me this, "he did it for the greater good, to maximize money to give to NGOs, and or charity". Who comes up with such a childish notion of altruism. This form of altruism is condescending, insulting, and just makes your eyes role. Coastal Elites could only buy into something this stupid. Go work in a job you like or can get that makes your life as a whole better. Not a focus on charity giving. To have that be a factor is so stupid its painful. I would love to be a doctor, but I am going to go be a scumbag on wall street for the money and give some to a medical charity or something. How about you leave the gated community or just walk around your gated community. Maybe help a neighbor with something, and it doesn't even need to be handing them $20 Nobody likes the billionaire in their state who spends all his money in another state. Improve the town or region you live in. Get to know the people and go from there. Telling me you donated to a bunch of different charities for something like Ebola in Africa is not going to gain my adornment like building the town a new library. That is just how human beings work. If you tell me 500,000 people died in a tsunami, but also a kid from the high school killed himself, the kid is really all the town or I will be focused on mentally.

[@user-gy1pu3gq3d]

Are people surprised by this? Sam's thinking on Trump was low-quality, on Covid was low-quality, on border security has been low-quality to non-existent. It's not to say that Sam's positions were untenable, but the arguments were so stupid.

[@wasdwasdedsf]

" To have that be a factor is so stupid its painful. " its so stupid so as to be painful to aim to make a lot of money because you want to, and are able if you succeed, to save thousands of lives?

[@frankbumstead1804]

@@wasdwasdedsf Yes. You could not have put it better. That is painfully stupid.

[@wasdwasdedsf]

@@frankbumstead1804 i agree, i also think its better if cancer research stops so that humans in the future will have to keep living with endless pain and suffering from it i dont know what i was thinking being so stupid so as to think cancer was a bda thing

[@petermuller6359]

What a BS-fest!

[@tumhalad1]

Credulous bullshit Sam. Admit you were wrong.

[@possumface2425]

And of course you would never be deceived by a charlatan offering financial support for animal welfare.

[@deeznutz8320]

​@possumface2425 A financier living on a tropical island? No i would never fall for that since i know they are known tax havens for frauds But SBF is a fellow tribe member of Harris thats why he sticks up for them

[@QwertyCanada]

Sam is never wrong, lmao. It's hard to stay this guy's fan. Pathetic!!!

[@mnforager]

This guest creeps me out the way he keeps giggling to himself. So offputting

[@jalbatross64]

SBF did exactly what he was told to do and brought up to do by his handlers which included the guest of this podcast

[@mimimonday5539]

Greedy little people SBF ,Tom Brady and Gisele Bunchden public figures

[@Jake-Day]

Never forget that Sam Harris gave SBF a platform while refusing to talk with Brett Weinstein during that same period of time.

[@sharpenedge]

Yep!

[@xeroeddie]

Were people aware of his illegal endeavours at the time?

[@robertbentley3589]

And apparently that makes you unhappy. Get over it. Scroll on

[@aaronclarke1434]

And this has nothing whatsoever to do with a constellation of tribal beliefs about vaccines and COVID. It’s purely an observation about SH.

[@TOMinPDX]

​@@xeroeddieA lot of people in the crypto world were calling him out & suggesting things were wrong at FTX, just that nobody knew the extent of it. Still doesn't give Sam a pass.

[@peznino1]

Sam Harris, you're continued support for the killing of innocent people in Gaza is so utterly disappointing and frankly hard to believe. You have a voice and a platform and clearly have eyes and ears to see what's unfolding.

[@CP-nl2zb]

Sam is a World Champion Pseudo intellectual. Sammy The Pseudo Harris.

[@PinchePeloSpiderman]

LOL not even up 10 minutes and you pathetic losers are commenting. Y'all follow him to hate on him. It's so hilariously sad.

[@edwardpatrick7748]

Says some random asshole on KZbin.

[@DavidFerguson68]

Triggered

[@omercora]

sad :(

[@possumface2425]

The most idiotic comment prize goes to you! 🏆

[@08jkhnor]

please have dr. Ramani you will understand narcissism better

[@maynardgent6708]

I think it's time for a new jingle, something which doesn't make all episodes sound like the beginning of a tense spy movie