I’m legitimately curious how Abstract Algebra relates here. I thought that was all about group theory and such.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_theory

In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as rings, fields, and vector spaces, can all be seen as groups endowed with additional operations and axioms.

I got a degree in it, so I know a few things.

this doesn’t mean math is wrong

The application of a model to a set of data which fails to predict outcomes reliably is "Wrong Math".

The big problem with EAs is empirical. They don't deliver on their promises.

The misuse of mosquito nets for fishing is bad, yes – and depressingly ironic – but you should check out the Against Malaria Foundation’s response

The distribution of nets had failed to yield the promised benefits. I site the misuse as a very prominent example of how EAs misjudge externalities, but its one data point in a much broader picture.

If you really want to drop the hammer on EAs - particularly chronic fraudsters like SBF and the Zuckerberg CZI - it is that they're fair more interested in self-enrichment than altruism in the basic sense.

I cite the mosquito netting distribution effects as a very straightforward calculation error, because it is at least superficially a sincere effort with lackluster results. But once you get under the tip of the iceberg, EAs are as riddled with con-artists and bullshitters as any Clinton Foundation or UN Food for Oil initiative.

That's the wages of unilateralism in a nutshell.