The personality of going Infinite

 "A bit shallow" is my short review of Michael Lewis Going Infinite book on the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). Still, I don't have an issue with the lack of content, as that reflects the reality of the open legal situation. I do however find the psychological presentation of SBF a bit shallow. 

(Background info is that SBF started his career as a trader at Jane Street Capital, a high frequency trading firm).

When hiring a trader, you are looking for someone that balances drive and analytical thinking (personality state 2 below). You also want a trader that is emotionally connected to their work. In high-frequency trading the software and the math trades, not the person. As a result the trader must have "empathy" for their models, for their algorithms, as these do the trading. These models and algorithms are complicated, and need clear mind to be felt. As a result, when hiring an electronic trader, one might look for people that can "shut out normal emotions" and connect to the "made up emotions" of markets, models and machines. In a previous post this year, I mentioned this "shut out emotions" state as  "preserving a depleted emotional space" state (state 1 below).  

A depleted region in semiconductors, is an area where electrons have been "pushed away". Resulting in a region that needs electrons to be "normal" again. I use here the term depleted emotions in a similar maner: it is a state of mind that lacks emotions, and only becomes active emotionally with an inflow of emotions from others, or by a focused effort of the person. With no inflow, the amount, and the depth of emotions stays minimal.

Let's call "Goal Oriented-Analytical-Preserving emotional Personality" (GOAPP), as person that seeks to balance their personality state of analytical goal orientation with their need to preserve an almost none-emotional (e.g. intellectuel) view of the world.

Most of us react to social moments, many of us buy things. State 4 below captures the balance of the two. Most of us resonate with our emotions (state 3 below). 

There is a "Follower-Consumer-Emotional Personality" (FCEP) which is on the opposite corner of  GOAPP.  These two personalities can co-exist in multiple manners. From a GOAPP perspective:

1. FCEP might be embraced as the ever elusive normality.
2. FCEP might be rejected in a form of self-handicapping denial.  

My feeling is that SBF falls into the second category above: A goal-oriented analytical person, that in part denies their emotions, and yet also the emotions of others, as well as denies the normality of others to be part of society, both as consumers and as followers of social trends. This explain in part the crazy interviews: having denied himself the normality of emotions and social belonging, he lived out his fantasy of rational normality, which really does not end up containing much.

All original content copyright James Litsios, 2023.