11–20 of 28 posts
Given that SBF had worked at Jane Street, it seems strange that he either didn't know about martingales or believed they didn't apply to him.
Lewis has had a real knack for picking problematic protagonists in his later career: * The Tuohy family for Blind Side * Kahneman and Tversky --- not really problematic as people! but right in the middle of the reproduction crisis in their field * Brad Katsuyama, yeesh, who is also the reason Lewis was set up to do a hagiography on SBF * SBF, of course. I agree with the "man, can Lewis write" sentiment! He can! You k…
2) What's wrong with Katsuyama? If you mean IEX was a dumb idea and HFT is good for markets overall then I agree with that. I think that just means Katsuyama is wrong and self-serving, not problematic.
Zvi Mowshowitz also worked at Jane Street Capital and I found his take on SBF's rise and fall pretty compelling and detailed. Interesting how SBF seemed to almost be running around in a sort of dissociative state. He was sorta aware that there was a whole world out there with consequences but he just completely ignored it. Screw the consequences, just kept doing whatever dumb stuff he wanted to do.
Something most of the think pieces, and interviews with Michael Lewis, discount is just how geeked out on amphetamines this guy was.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Something most of the think pieces, and interviews with Michael Lewis, discount is just how geeked out on amphetamines this guy was.
not to nitpick, but at least in my experience, "geeked out" is a strange turn of phrase here
The drug-using definition predates the nerd-culture definition from what I can tell (the Urban Dictionary entry is older for one thing).
Lewis has had a real knack for picking problematic protagonists in his later career: * The Tuohy family for Blind Side * Kahneman and Tversky --- not really problematic as people! but right in the middle of the reproduction crisis in their field * Brad Katsuyama, yeesh, who is also the reason Lewis was set up to do a hagiography on SBF * SBF, of course. I agree with the "man, can Lewis write" sentiment! He can! You k…
"Seriously, what the actual f** was SBF doing in a high school? (Also, why would he want to read the Harry Potter books a second time, one of the deeper unsolved mysteries remaining?) He was doing philosophy better than philosophers, off the cuff. He was bored out of his mind."
However in the previous paragraph when commenting on how great Sam was at philosophy and having intellectuakl stimulating conversatyions with his parents he said: "This must have been so amazing. I can’t wait for this to happen to me with my kids."
The author seems to be pretending they know exactly what a perfect upbringing for a gifted child like Sam would have needed.
When In fact I can imagine raising sam would have been extremely difficult even with the best parents.
This sort of shoddiness with facts is becoming a concerning pattern for Michael Lewis. He's a great writer, but he really doesn't seem to have a close relationship with the truth. Two other examples: * Everything about the blind side that is now coming out in court. * The founders of IEX who are now begging the market making firms to come to the exchange which was designed to get rid of them... and creating a much wo…