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Notes -
As far as I can tell this isn't true. I was somewhat familiar with EA and I'd still never heard of him before, though I think I saw a mention of the FTX Future Fund in a Scott post or something. Not that long ago I remember reading people worrying that perception of EA was being too driven by longtermism due to the publication of What We Owe the Future, if that was true maybe William MacAskill qualifies as the public face. But more likely it's still just Peter Singer. SBF donated a pile of money and got mentioned in some news articles because of it but he wasn't writing books or articles about EA, he wasn't giving talks about it, he wasn't representing the EA position in panel shows. Searching old news articles the main place his support for EA got mentioned was in puff pieces about him personally. Now, they might get associated in the public imagination in retrospect, since what happened with FTX is big news and there's some articles about him and EA, but back when he was just some philanthropic billionaire I don't think he was a big part of the public perception.
Strong agree. I think EAs have a bunch of anxiety and it's coming out in waves right now. I am significantly involved in EA and have been for a while - I still didn't know who SBF was. I did know about the FTX Future Fund, but that's it.
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