16. Meditations on Moloch

Read the original essay here. Do note that I read an older version. The author made many changes since its publication that I consider dishonest and cowardly. To read along with my narration, go here. Download the mp3 here. If you liked the piece, you might find yourself thinking about it in the shower for a long time as it gradually rends your soul to little swarming pieces. To help you process it, here are some followup essays: On Gnon by Nick Land Misperceptions on Moloch, by the same author, explaining some misunderstandings of the original essay that people mostly made out of some ideological motivation SSC Book Review: Red Plenty, again by the same author The Ancient God Who Rules High School In Soviet Union, Optimization Problem Solves You Minimum Viable Superorganism by Kevin Simler Inequalities by Sarah Perry Malthusianisms The Importance of Goodhart's Law Self-fulfilling Correlations Lost Purposes Siren worlds and the perils of over-optimized search The Optimizer's Curse and How to Beat It or Disappointment at Black Belt Bayesian. Why the Tails Come Apart