Morals & Markets Presents: The FTX Scam: ‘Effective Altruism’ in Action

Description:

FTX, an exchange for cryptocurrencies, was fraudulent almost from its start in 2019. Its recent bankruptcy reveals that it robbed millions of people and billions of dollars, then spent most of it on Democrats. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) veiled his fraud with "effective altruism," a pseudo-ethical scheme from academic philosophy, the opposite of egoistic profit-maximization. Altruism is beloved, wrongly, as an ethic of goodwill to others. SBF knew he was perpetuating a fraud - first ethical, then financial: EA, he said, is "this dumb game we woke Westerners play where we say all the right shibboleths, so everyone likes us."

Suggested Readings/Sources:

•  “The Do-Gooder Movement that Shielded Sam Bankman-Fried from Scrutiny,” Washington Post (2022.11.17).
•  “Professor Singer Says FTX Fraud Won’t Stop His Effective Altruism Movement,” CBC News (2022.12.17).
•  “How Effective Altruism Let Sam Bankman-Fried Happen,” VOX (2022.12.12).
•   Singer, P. “The Logic of Effective Altruism,” Boston Review (2015.07.01)

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