New Books Network David Morris, "Stealing The Future: Sam Bankman-Fried, Elite Fraud, and the Cult of Techno-Utopia" (Watkins Media, 2025)
Jan 5, 2026
David Z. Morris, journalist and cryptocurrency expert, dives into the captivating world of Sam Bankman-Fried and the $11 billion FTX fraud in his insightful book, *Stealing the Future*. He explores how ideas like effective altruism shaped this scandal, linking high-stakes fraud to culture and ethics in tech. Morris critiques rationalism and discusses the gambling culture of crypto trading while outlining red flags for spotting future frauds. He warns against misplaced faith in AI hype and the dangers of speculative futures, making for a thought-provoking conversation.
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Complex Tech Enables Fraud
- Complex frontier technologies create enormous space for fraud because most people don't understand them.
- David Z. Morris argues crypto and AI share that opacity which scammers exploit to sell future promises.
Predictive Faith Drives Moral Risk
- Rationalism and effective altruism share a dangerous faith in predictive certainty and calculable outcomes.
- Morris links that faith to justifications for actions that ignore moral rules like "don't lie and don't steal."
Future-Focused Ethics Can Justify Harm
- Techno-utopian longtermism values far-future lives equally to present lives, enabling harm to today's people.
- Morris warns this ethical stance underpins many elite tech visions and risky sacrifices.
