In that glowing Sequoia profile, Mr. Bankman-Fried said: “I’m very skeptical of books. I don’t want to say no book is ever worth reading, but I actually do believe something pretty close to that.” He didn’t like movies, either.
It’s impossible to read the sad saga of Mr. Bankman-Fried without thinking he, and many of those around him, would have been better off if they had spent less time at math camp and more time in English class. Sometimes in books, the characters find their moral compass; in the best books, the reader does, too.
As I read about Mr. Bankman-Fried, the historical drama “A Man for All Seasons,” once a staple for high school students, kept coming to mind. It’s about a man who knows right from wrong and a man who doesn’t. Richard Rich is a little like Mr. Bankman-Fried: a young man with huge ambitions and no scruples. He begs Thomas More for a place at court. More tells Rich he would be a good teacher.
Who would know if I were a good teacher? Rich asks scornfully.
“You, your pupils, your friends, God,” More replies. “Not a bad public, that.”
Rich rejects the quiet life, betrays More and is rewarded with a post in Wales. Viewers are given to understand that he loses his soul. Mr. Bankman-Fried rejected the quiet life, betrayed nearly everyone he knew — and ended up with neither wealth nor Wales.
