Every now and I then I see (or hear) people involved in EA refer to Moloch[1], as if this is a specific force that should be actively resisted and acted against. Genuine question: are people just using the term “Moloch” to refer to incentives [2] that nudge us to do bad things? Is there any reason why we should say “Moloch” instead of “incentives,” or is this merely a sort of in-group shibboleth? Am I being naïve or otherwise missing something here?
As well as the other influences on our motives from things external to ourselves, such as the culture and society that we grew up in, or how we earn respect and admiration from peers.
I see it as “incentives that nudge us to do bad things”, plus this incentive structure being something that naturally emerges or is hard to avoid (“the dictatorless dictatorship”).
I think “Moloch” gets this across a bit better than just “incentives” which could include things like bonuses which are deliberately set up by other people to encourage certain behaviour.
This is actually a pretty big issue. It was basically locked in to Meditations on Moloch because it was too good. The essay does a really good job explaining it, and giving examples that create the perspective you need to understand the broad applicability of the concept, but has too many words; “incentives” or even a single phrase (e.g. “race to the bottom”) would have fewer words, but it wouldn’t give the concept the explanation that it’s worth. Maybe there could be some kind of middle ground.
Every now and I then I see (or hear) people involved in EA refer to Moloch[1], as if this is a specific force that should be actively resisted and acted against. Genuine question: are people just using the term “Moloch” to refer to incentives [2] that nudge us to do bad things? Is there any reason why we should say “Moloch” instead of “incentives,” or is this merely a sort of in-group shibboleth? Am I being naïve or otherwise missing something here?
Presumably, Scott Alexander’s 2014 Meditations on Moloch essay has been very widely read among EAs.
As well as the other influences on our motives from things external to ourselves, such as the culture and society that we grew up in, or how we earn respect and admiration from peers.
I see it as “incentives that nudge us to do bad things”, plus this incentive structure being something that naturally emerges or is hard to avoid (“the dictatorless dictatorship”).
I think “Moloch” gets this across a bit better than just “incentives” which could include things like bonuses which are deliberately set up by other people to encourage certain behaviour.
This is actually a pretty big issue. It was basically locked in to Meditations on Moloch because it was too good. The essay does a really good job explaining it, and giving examples that create the perspective you need to understand the broad applicability of the concept, but has too many words; “incentives” or even a single phrase (e.g. “race to the bottom”) would have fewer words, but it wouldn’t give the concept the explanation that it’s worth. Maybe there could be some kind of middle ground.
I’ll admit that I really like how there are so many examples shared in Meditations on Moloch, which helps it serve as a kind of intuition flooding.
oh my GOD I cannot tell you how much I needed this