Going Infinite
by Michael Lewis · first published 2023
13% recommend77% neutral10% critical
The life of Sam Bankman-Fried up until a little after FTX/Alameda Research exploded.
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- "Going Infinite", by Michael Lewis - "Speed & Scale", John Doerr - "Superintelligence", by Nick Bostrom All great reads, strongly recommended.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading these days?” ↗…Michael Oher as suffering from CTE the way Lewis recently did), but it's an article of faith here that Gladwell isn't worth reading, and not so much with Lewis. So I think your problem with a book like Going Infinite is: SBF is obviously an interesting subject for a book, and, because Lewis was pre-sold on/to him, he had extensive access, and Lewis can definitely write. So if you're the kind of nerd we all are, you're…
on “Zvi Mowshowitz's Book Review: Going Infinite [Long Read on Sam Bankman-Fried]” ↗I like Matt Levine's take on Going Infinite: > Many of the reviews that I have read of the book complain that Lewis does not sufficiently explain that Bankman-Fried is Guilty and Bad, Actually, but that is not the book that he wanted to write…
on “Michael Lewis's Blind Side” ↗I have read many Lewis' books and admired his skills as a storyteller and stylist for decades. I found Going Infinite fun to read but less satisfying than The Big Short, Liar's Poker, Moneybag, etc. As a good complement or even substitute, I highly recommend Zvi Mowshowitz's review[1] of Going Infinite. I have some…
on “Michael Lewis's Blind Side” ↗…literally a random number. How did someone commit that and sleep at night? It’s amazing that some people still defend SBF. Among his sycophants is Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, The Big Short, and now “Going Infinite” which somehow manages to gloss over the rampant fraud happening at FTX since inception.
on “FTX "insurance fund" calculated by multiplying trading volume by random number” ↗I never had any doubt but did anyone have doubt? Michael Lewis's book Going Infinite portrayed SBF (to me at least) as a hapless kid caught up in something he did not understand. Lewis is the only person I have read that seemed to defend SBF. Was he the only one?
on “SBF Guilty on All Charges” ↗Last three things I read (slightly all over the place): - Aleister Crowley by Steven Ashe: A biography of the British occultist. - Going Infinite by Michael Lewis: A (very well meaning) story of Sam Bankman-Fried - The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt: A book about "safety culture" on campus and it's implications at large.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading these days?” ↗…crime versus culpability of "super smart kids" that got in over their heads. I think therein lies what will be a hung jury. 1. Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by Zeke Faux 2. Going Infinite by Michael Lewis
on “She's the star witness against Sam Bankman-Fried. Her testimony was explosive” ↗Near the end of Michael Lewis's new book on SBF, "Going Infinite," it's suggested, iirc by Lewis himself which was disappointing, that because Alameda's Anthropic $500M 2022 investment has grown quickly, this will make up for other losses, and in the end the money…
on “Alameda meeting where Caroline Ellison admitted the firm took FTX customer money” ↗…controlled. The attacker withdrew the profits from the second account; when the first account went into liquidation MobileCoin tanked and the collateral was worthless. At least that's what Michael Lewis' book Going Infinite says happened. FTX's mistake was that their liquidation engine valued collateral using something that could be manipulated. It's actually a very hard problem for an illiquid asset -- the correct valuation…
on “SBF Made $9B Disappear. This Forensic Accountant Found It” ↗I used to think that this fear was driven by rational minds until I read Michael Lewis' "Going Infinite" and learned more about effective altruism [EA]. Michael Lewis writes that what is remarkable about these guys [i.e. EAs] is that they're willing to follow their beliefs to their logical conclusion (paraphrasing)…
on “Yann LeCun: AI one-percenters seizing power forever is real doomsday scenario” ↗While Michael Lewis never says it outright, the picture painted in his book Going Infinite suggests that SBF has a few things going on. Self-delusion and rationalization, ego, etc., but he also might be on one or more neurodivergent spectra.
on “Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all charges” ↗I'm still reading the fawning biography Going Infinite, and even Michael Lewis thinks there was a lot of "right guy right place right time" involved. Heck, even SBF thought so. Lewis' origin story is that SBF noticed how efficient Jane Street was and how…
on “Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all charges” ↗No dog in this race either way, but what is Michael Lewis meant to have done? Is it just that people feel hist treatment of SBF in Going Infinite was too lenient?
on “Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison” ↗an interesting michael lewis book. (lots less controversial than Going Infinite)
on “Daniel Kahneman has died” ↗