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

it’s both unsettling and revealing about human nature. maybe the real question is, what would it take for people to hesitate or even refuse to press the button? a deeper sense of connection, purpose, or hope perhaps? curious to hear your thoughts on how we can cultivate that in today’s world

I love photography, nature and the world of crypto
/itookaphoto

Photography is the story I fail to put into words.' - Destin Sparks

I think the broader issue with Moloch-type problems is that it takes just one person to unravel the entire coordination (the doomsday device is an extreme version of that).

So no matter how much you cultivate that sense of connection in the world, you can never reach everyone