This is not Michael Lewis’ usual clear and excellent reporting on something a bit complex. And he’s generally such a good explainer.  Unfortunately, if you’re listening to this there are a couple of PDFs mentioned which don’t seem to be available on the Audible site (not that I found anyway, so I sent them a complaint).  

Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
by Michael Lewis
10/2023 
Read by author 8h 56m
Rating – 9.5   / biography – finance 

Sam Bankman-Fried and his younger brother grew up in well-to-do family in the Bay Area where his parents were both professors at Stanford. Sam was unusually bright and was sent to a private school which his parents thought seemed to help him at least gain interest in school, but apparently didn’t. Sam was interested in what was going on in his own head and some computer games. He was a math whiz though and went to special summer camps.  

Going by what I’ve read online, Bankman-Fried  has apparently been diagnosed as autistic and I know there are many kinds and degrees of autism. Besides, I’ve taught many autistic Kindergarteners who are slightly autistic and I kind of knew the symptoms when Lewis was describing Sam.  They can be a LOT of different ways.  But that’s a reason for Sam not seeming to get along with other people – not really wanting to.

Some autistic people may really be philanthropic (?) because you never can tell what some of them develop fixations on. Bankman-Fried proclaimed himself to be an Effective Altruist while at MIT and he made friends with that group and they worked with him  for a long time  That link is from the
“Chronicle of Philanthropy” (10/4/2023)  with a heading of “Disgraced Philanthropist.” It’s a book review.

Odd how his trial started right this very week – was that a publishing PR stunt? Okay fine. 

The verdict? at some point I think Bankman-Fried knew what he was doing and that it was wrong and against the law, but maybe not at first. And then for awhile he was in denial (as were his parents),  but from maybe July of 2022 on, whenever he was relocated to Bermuda, he was staying there for a reason.  So he’ll be spending a lot of time in jail and I thinks parents will have some fines – although I don’t know how guilty they’ll be. And there are his buddies (from high school and math camp?). as well as his “girlfriend” – how guilty is she?

About Lewis, I think he wanted to like Bankman-Fried but there are limits.  BF wasn’t interested in people liking him or in him liking them.  He was busy playing mental games.  

Also:  from the Chronicle of Philanthropy – under a heading of “Disgraced Philanthropist” –  10/4/2023: 

Quote from the book – : 
“Fault is just a construct of human society – it serves different purposes for different people.  It can be a tool to discourage bad action, an attempt to recover pride after in the face of hardship. An outlet for rage and many more things.  I guess maybe the most important definition, to me at least, is how did everyones’s actions reflect on the probability distribution  of their future behavior. How did everyones’s actions reflect on the probability distribution  of their future behavior. “   (Chapter 5? )

  Review from Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2023/michael-lewis-sam-bankman-fried-ftx-crypto/