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i am inventing a new concept it's called a "scamsona" and it's what piece of shit conman you kind of identify with a little bit and take as a warning of a path to never go down, mine is sbf

a lot of you did not understand the assignment and picked scammers who didn't do anything wrong. you must look at the darkness in your heart and see that darkness reflected in them and then choose to walk another path. but my phrasing could have been better

i am absolutely the right combination of smart and stupid to have been taken in by effective altruism and lose the plot completely and believe my own bullshit and get in over my head after an elaborate set of circumstances that began with philosophy for dipshits styled fanfiction

anyway i do appreciate everyone for thinking about this and sharing their answers this has been very interesting

@nora is there a hazard here, in finding a scamsona that is more goalworthy than cautionary

@violator i suppose that could be a problem i just also like carmen sandiego

@nora i wouldn't fault you if you fell down the path of carmen sandiego

@nora I don't think Emperor Norton fits the criteria, but that's who I thought of first!

@ranjit @nora To be fair, Joshua Norton was trying to pull a grand corner-the-grain-market maneuver to become the beneficiary of a predatory scam, when someone else's grain ship arrived, causing the loss of his figurative shirt.

He disappeared from society, and came back as a pure being sustained by self-belief, charisma, fancy looking IOU notes, and stories that people wanted to hear.

The apotheosis of scamsonas.

@nora i mostly play video games to break their internal mechanics in terrible ways. A slight nudge in my timeline and I woulda been this dingus

@nora Ford Prefect, more specifically how much of his scammery is in service of doing as little actual Work as possible in any given situation

@nora For real people? Probably the OG Charles Ponzi, in particular the way he kept trying to keep the plates spinning while already underwater. That part resonates deeply with the ADHD baked into my bones

@nora of course it’s eliezer yudkowsky

@nora Jan Hendrik Schön, hands down. But I want to mention that I’ve developed multiple bits of useful software powered by how much I hate Elizabeth Holmes.

@nora oh, yeah, uh... the council of Nicea

we don't know enough of the relevant history to identify anyone more specific, but we very much aspire not to do that shit

@nora i think i could have been either a cryptocurrency rugpuller or run of the mill whatever's-hot-right-now tech grifter

like i see guys guys lie their way to being the Chief Blockchain Officer and think "I could do that if I didn't have a sense of right and wrong"

@nora whoever invented nfts probably. I have a project I literally refer to as evil game that is the unholy union of the early days of ebay and loot boxes.

I don't think I'll ever build it for real, but I have heard the siren song.

@nora Probably RMS or someone like that, using a few valid observations here and there mixed with absolute bullshit to scalp off donations and academic funding and to build a cult to shield myself.

@xgranade @nora That sounds like you're actually delivering some value in a wrapper of scams, which seems better than what I was imagining for my own scamsona as the Lord of Credentialism.

@nora probably anyone and everyone

@nora Founder of the University of Phoenix.

I once applied to be an instructor when I was between jobs, and the scheme for who got in was a little competition where each candidate got to teach a lesson.

I had to acknowledge the clear winner wasn't me, but it got me to thinking it was a wonderful multi-way scheme to have a self-sustaining op that fed the brand holder on the hunger and precarity of both instructors and credential seekers.

@nora Bow ye down to me, the Lord of Credentialism, and I will grant ye Certificates of Achievement. All shall love Continuing Education, and despair!

Yet I return the Ring to you, and shall pass into the West, and be Just A Programmer.

@nora

Sheryl Sandberg. I swear to god, if you hear me say "lean in" - something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.