bit¢oin$

when hes right hes right

ILX = navajo code

if anyone is still wondering about it, molly white explained on her youtube-stream why inner city press can livetweet the trial but she (and most others) can't: he is an attested new york court reporter of long-standing (actually also flitting between and reporting on other trials in the same court-house) and as such has his own designated room (along with the other attested court reporters) and is allowed to bring in his phone and laptop and such

ah thank you i did half heartedly try to figure that out

good piece

There’s another rumor, which is an incomplete story — but a lot of people strongly suspect that Alameda was started with a pile of tethers backed by nothing, because there was too much heat around Bitfinex/Tether in 2017 and the whales needed a new trading partner.

https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2023/10/26/the-beautiful-mind-of-sam-bankman-fried/

very good article thx, good lord these EA people are insane

Most zillionaires don’t seek the limelight. They just get on with making money. If you see the ultra-wealthy promoting themselves, it’s a stage-managed production for publicity purposes, designed to distract from whatever is really going on.

They want you to think they’re the next Steve Jobs. Somehow, they keep turning out to be Elizabeth Holmes.

so fuckin crazy

He goes on to name a specific rationalist, Kelsey Piper of Vox — the journalist that Sam later shot his mouth off to — as someone who really should have gotten onto Adderall for greatest effectiveness in her altruism: “by my calculations, that decreased Kelsey’s effectiveness by 20%, thus costing approximately 54 billion lives.” Yeah, rationalists really do say that sort of thing as if it’s normal.

yep, and added in comments by author when someone said "that was just a joke":

Rationalists do say that sort of thing in all seriousness, and it would only work as a joke because they do. This example is in the class of statements that they mean until they’re called on them, at which point they claim they were “jokes.” Scott Alexander has always been very heavy on this variety of deniable statement.

c.f. Sartre on fascism

its obviously a joke you can tell cause its 20% more hyperbolic than the stuff they usually say

one of many things bad things about ea is theyre "first principles" cultists, like upon hearing the term effective altruism you might assume its a good thing people learning about the best way to give away their fortunes by say consulting experts on the topic, but no theyre just going to figure it out themselves using logic, the same logic that lead bankman to the conclude that shakespeare was bad because there were fewer people alive back then

shakespeare was bad because there were fewer people alive back then

lol what

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F7xys_AbcAAmoWF?format=jpg&name=large

its funny how mad so many of these geniuses are about having been made to read a few books in school

a silicon valley billionaire reading proust "this is inefficient!"

on one hand I feel bad for the guy if he's all discombobulated by not having any medication in jail, but on the other hand the entire shtick of him having "brain fog" and being "unable to focus" is totally him thinking he only sounds very smart and has the Good Thoughts when he's cranked to the gills on speed

many people throughout history have had this issue, and a surprising number have been able to convince others that their ideas are very good by talking quickly and verbosely. or writing many pages about how great their thoughts are, like Ayn Rand

they should let him be cranked up on the stand in front of the jury imo

hell yeah lets do this

the rate at which guys with altered brain chemistry whether via drugs or mental illness have been history makers is pretty high lol

I see that this was covered in that david gerard link above, nm

people like to give attention to people who stand out. one of the main ways to succeed out there is to figure out what people think is normal and then do something just far enough out of their comfort zones to keep their interest

@innercitypress

Cohen: How many hours a day were you working?
SBF: 22 a day, 23 maybe

his guys shd ask him abt panera lemonade consumption, it's a cast-iron defence imo

(cross has now started btw, the above is from before that)

live nytimes coverage here: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/30/business/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-trial

everything from the prosecutor is asking him if he remembered saying things that he obviously said and he's all "I don't remember but maybe I said that"

the defense is completely "I didn't know anything and if I said I did, I do not recall having said that"

the classic "I'm just a little guy!" defense but a little guy with memory problems

only works when youre being questioned by congress

sbf good again

AUSA Sassoon: You called people on Crypto Twitter "Dumb motherf*ckers"?

its funny how mad so many of these geniuses are about having been made to read a few books in school

― lag∞n, Sunday, October 29, 2023 9:38 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I can't find it now, but I'm pretty sure John Fahey made exactly this argument in one of his liner notes, except it was obviously tongue in cheek.

"this argument" = statistics prove that there are better composers than Beethoven alive today, or something along those lines.

sbf secret fahey freak

“The stuff you said about wanting good regulations was just PR, wasn’t it?” Sassoon, the prosecutor, asked. Bankman-Fried said it wasn’t. Then the prosecution showed screenshots of Bankman-Fried telling a journalist exactly that.

One of the things that happens when illiterate "smart people" try to just figure everything out "from reason" is that they wind up coming up with trite and stupid conclusions that are not only unoriginal but have already been addressed by many people. That's part of why reading and learning is a good idea - other humans have come before you with similar thoughts.

yeah knowledge is better than logic

@innercitypress

AUSA Sassoon: Did you disclose to your customers that the risk engine had been exploited?
SBF: I can explain if you want.
AUSA: That's alright.

I mean, there's arguments about the worth of Shakespeare and the canon and their place in power systems, but this isn't that, this is the same regarding literature as the AI doomers are about intelligence, boiling it down to a number that you can plot going upwards.

one of many things bad things about ea is theyre "first principles" cultists, like upon hearing the term effective altruism you might assume its a good thing people learning about the best way to give away their fortunes by say consulting experts on the topic

Also it's a very "well that sounds nice, who could be against that?" gig, like calling yourself rationalists, you might as well start a party and call yourself the Right Party... oh yeah, that tracks.

Ms. Kudla: I am getting to that point. It will only take about 10 minutes.
Judge Kaplan: Some people don’t have 10 minutes left to live.
Ms. Kudla: Fair.

this was my fave moment, so far

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F9uGeurWoAAeloT?format=jpg&name=small

a-ha's "take coin me" (1985)

lol

hahaha

nice

well done

That sketch makes him look way handsomer than he really is

lol ya think

pretty sure that's not a real court sketch but a delightful parody

the real court sketches are something, one of them truly looks like they're drawing a Twilight Zone character

so despite having watched 3045709384 eps of law and order 4913984 times each i was faintly startled by the way defence is popping up at every hinge-point in this trial to say "we now move for an acquittal!" -- which the judge then denies. does this always happen in the US? in the hope that the judge by mistake says yes?

i mean i realise there *are* some acquittals at such stages, bcz the prosecution has fully fucked up its case or someone else has confessed or whatever -- but is it defence's job just to try it on anyway, just in case?

pretty sure that's not a real court sketch but a delightful parody

the real court sketches are something, one of them truly looks like they're drawing a Twilight Zone character

― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Tuesday, October 31, 2023 10:10 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think there are multiple sketches - I'm not sure there's one official sketch artist so they may all be "real" sketches.

xp

Pretty much. The defense attorney has to ask for it to preserve the issue for appeal, but it is rarely granted.

lol why has dick wolf lied to me (by omission)?!?

jury ready to go home

SAM BANKMAN FRIED IS GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS!!! https://t.co/0CkDs6WzHg pic.twitter.com/c7XdrDV7co

— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) November 2, 2023

they started deliberating this afternoon