Can see where lesswrong gets it’s reputation from, amazing post.
You do have me wondering on authoritarianism though. What sort of authoritarian government do you think is not subject to molloch? Stalin, for instance, was certainly influenced by Molloch. As a communist dictator he needed control of the military, the party elite, some smidge of popular power and a variety of other things. Absolute authority, in the end, is rather illusory in basically all dictatorships I know of. The dictator gives a order and someone carries the order out. To ensure that his orders are carried out, the dictator must stay in power, and let’s not forget all the personal goodies a human ruler might desire (yatchs, money, that one pretty girl that caught your eye). I believe all these things would function as incentives which tend to be against or at the very least not for the interests of a state. Your thoughts?
Damn! Nice!
Can see where lesswrong gets it’s reputation from, amazing post.
You do have me wondering on authoritarianism though. What sort of authoritarian government do you think is not subject to molloch? Stalin, for instance, was certainly influenced by Molloch. As a communist dictator he needed control of the military, the party elite, some smidge of popular power and a variety of other things. Absolute authority, in the end, is rather illusory in basically all dictatorships I know of. The dictator gives a order and someone carries the order out. To ensure that his orders are carried out, the dictator must stay in power, and let’s not forget all the personal goodies a human ruler might desire (yatchs, money, that one pretty girl that caught your eye). I believe all these things would function as incentives which tend to be against or at the very least not for the interests of a state. Your thoughts?