Silicon Valley may never learn its lesson

Last week, Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven charges related to the undoing of FTX; his combined charges carry a maximum sentence of 110 years. But the sudden collapse of a wildly successful company is unlikely to alter Silicon Valley’s “founder friendly” attitude, which values a single individual’s confidence and mythmaking above much else, Lora Kelley writes. Crypto may now be over, but generative AI is on the horizon—with Silicon Valley investors eager to once again jump into the fray.

Today’s newsletter brings you stories about the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX.

• “Silicon Valley May Never Learn Its Lesson,” by Lora Kelley. The tech industry is designed for people like Sam Bankman-Fried.
• “Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alleged Crimes Have Real Victims,” by Annie Lowrey. What FTX customers lost may not impoverish them, but they were still cheated.
• “The End of the Silicon Valley Myth,” by Brian Merchant. The companies that define our digital lives have hit a wall.
• “The Journalist and the Fallen Billionaire,” by Helen Lewis. In Going Infinite, Michael Lewis gets close—too close—to Sam Bankman-Fried.
• “My Crypto Confession,” by Derek Thompson. Sam Bankman-Fried was a member of two cults: one I have criticized, and one I belong to.

— Katherine Hu, assistant editor