TechTakes

The sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried is humbling. I remember researching his rise to power many years ago, with some care, over a few weeks. Listened to a lot of his interviews, etc. I remember feeling deeply impressed, almost saddened by my own relative inferiority. I thought he was very cool. I really did. I thought he was a legitimate genius, bold, independently-minded, and admirably risk-tolerant: A paragon of contemporary, accelerated, cultural and technological entrepreneurship. His initial rise to power was the kind that often makes me wonder "What is wrong with me? Why can I not be smarter, sharper, bolder, and more successful with my own projects?" Since I admired him, I know that I am in no way above him; I could have very well made all of the same mistakes he made, if I had been given the power that he accrued. "There go I but for the grace of God," as they say. Ultimately, you never know what someone is really doing and you never know what will happen to them. You just cannot know whether someone's life and work are enviable until after they have died. With his sentencing today, I am at present just as awestruck as when I learned about his rise to power, but in the exact opposite direction—the envy I felt toward him I now feel toward my own life, and I'm beyond grateful to have achieved such tremendous success compared to him. If comparison is all too often the thief of joy, for the same reason it can also be a multiplier of gratitude and humility. I pray for Sam Bankman-Fried.