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

If we’re not headed to The Great Filter, it seems inevitable to me that we have to create a panopticon of surveillance because technology makes that button cheaper and more accessible every year. 

Tbh this is a primary reason I’m in crypto. Seems like it offers the only path to keeping the panopticon democratic.

That’s a great point — the barrier to entry for designing that metaphorical button gets lower every year.

I’ve been reading on ethnic bio weapons and I wonder which power will be the first to pull that trigger (and the virus then perhaps mutating out of its design parameters to wipe out everyone).

gigameshmusic.com

Farther: https://paragraph.xyz/@farther/the-next-chapter

Yeah I feel like if we treat democracy as a technology and ensure it advances faster than destructive tech, the buttons can’t be pushed without sane people having the chance to intervene.

That’s a great point — the barrier to entry for designing that metaphorical button gets lower every year.

I’ve been reading on ethnic bio weapons and I wonder which power will be the first to pull that trigger (and the virus then perhaps mutating out of its design parameters to wipe out everyone).


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