Dwelling upon Moloch’s grasp on mankind caused the following weird thought experiment to pop up in my head.

If every adult was handed a device with a big red button capable of ending humanity, how soon would someone press it?

Then I realized the answer is probably, and depressingly, “right away”. The radical millenarianists, the psychopaths, the pathologically disassociated, anyone tripping balls, plus a few edgelords cosplaying as The Joker would all compete for the title.

So a better question is: what percentage of people would press the button?

PhD in aviation ∩ climate science | Aviator, diver, ETH maxi, nexialist | Host of /diving /ethfinance /eth-staker /geopolitics /science /singapore /thomas

And of course, in Moloch style, the button can be seen as our collective inaction in the face of existential threats (climate change, etc).

By refusing to act, we’re pressing the metaphorical button, only the device has a delayed action