#101: THE MOLOCH TRAP

This Week: Be Useful First

~5 min

WHOM DO I SERVE? And other provocative questions in this short video from Jonathan Pageau about humanity in the age of A.I.

Hint: It isn’t you.

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PAGEAU ARGUES A.I. HAS DELIVERED FOR YOU AND ME A MOLOCH TRAP, a game-theory concept where rational, self-interested choices drive everyone into a collectively disastrous outcome. It describes a scenario where no single participant can defect without losing, even though everyone agrees on a better, cooperative option.

How the Trap Works

The dynamic hinges on a simple mechanism:

1. Optimization for a narrow goal: In a competitive environment, participants seek an edge (e.g., more money, higher status, or faster production).

2. Short-term sacrifice: To get this edge, participants must sacrifice another value, such as ethics, leisure time, or safety.

3. The Penalty of Inaction: Those who make the sacrifice prosper and survive; those who maintain their morals or refuse to compete lose out and are pushed out of the market or game.

4. The Bottom: Everyone ends up adopting the harmful strategy, leading to a “race to the bottom” where relative status remains unchanged, but absolute well-being plummets.

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I RECENTLY HAD A DRINK WITH AN OLD FRIEND WHO ASKED ABOUT MY FAITH. In recent years he has drifted from God and is “probably an atheist,” though he dislikes that term. The crux of his spiritual dilemma is the construct of religion. Why would this group of people, living in this place declare religious doctrinal superiority over that group of people living in that place? It’s a good question. You’ve granted me a five-minute window of your Saturday morning and it isn’t long enough to try to solve this, but I understood his point.

Simplified, I think of it like this:

Religion: Man’s collective journey at organizing communities, cultures, traditions, and families to better understand and engage with the world we share. Religion serves an important role beyond faith.

Faith: Man’s personal journey to individually grasp the concept of hope, love, and grace along with an acceptance of the unknown. Faith can exist beyond religion’s reach.

There have been times in my life where I wanted to tie it all together neatly and confidently. I’ve abandoned that strategy.

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AFTER UNSUCCESSFULLY TRYING THINGS MY WAY, I often ask myself why I did not seek His guidance in the first place.

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MOVING ON TO ANOTHER EASY, NON-CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC: EDUCATION!

YOU’VE LIKELY BEEN SOLD on the idea that standardized tests are not an accurate measure of student knowledge. The excuses range from “my child is a poor test taker” to “the test is racist” and much in between. After Covid, many colleges adopted a “test optional” admissions posture which addressed the full range of these concerns. Did it work out? It’s been a disaster. So much so that the liberal New York Times Opinion Section issued a strong rebuke of the University of California system. I literally had to check the masthead as I was reading this article.

My Take: The last time I checked, making a 36 on the ACT or a 1600 on the SAT meant your knowledge was elite. Standardized tests are not perfect but they are a measure of mastery. I also get that some kids need reasonable accommodations when taking tests.

How about this? Let’s cut out the lies about standardized tests and own what our kids do and do not understand and then look in the mirror at home while also holding schools accountable for their part.

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I WAS QUOTED IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL LAST WEEK where I spoke about our family’s decision to enroll our incoming 9th grader in Alpha Anywhere, the software learning platform for Alpha School. Our son is spending two hours every day this summer “catching up” on core curriculum where he is deficient. His friends are doing it too because they are all behind. Though he earned A’s and a few B’s throughout Middle School, the standardized test shows him far behind grade level. It is unacceptable and he has high standards, so he’ll do a little extra to get ready for high school.

I sensed he was academically behind. The standardized test confirmed he was behind. Once I overcame the shame of sharing this information with parents of his classmates, we discovered that nearly everyone was behind.*

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JOY is what you get when you are working towards meeting your potential.

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WHEN TRYING TO IMPRESS SOMEONE to take action that favors you, start with being useful to them.

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FINISHING ON A SERIOUS NOTE, Paul Marshall gives a 100 year history of ‘woke’. Serious leaders have to stand up when things get weird. I think of my own actions during peak-woke in 2020 and 2021. It isn’t that I complied with the mob. I just said far too little. Never again. I wrote about this in #28. Start at 11:45 and listen to Paul for five minutes.

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ARE WE IN A RUSH? My son asks this when I’m frenzied or moving at an abnormal fast pace. At first I was annoyed. Now I take it as a cue to slow down.

Faith improves my life. Here are two verses I like from the Bible:

“You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god— which you made for yourselves.”

- ‭‭Amos‬ ‭5‬:‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.”

- ‭‭Acts‬ ‭7‬:‭43‬ ‭NIV‬‬

A QUOTE WORTH READING:

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

- C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain (1940)

~IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO LIVE OUT YOUR VALUES~

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*I believe my son’s academic deficit - and the deficit of his friends - goes beyond any individual school, curriculum or teacher. In short, there is plenty of blame to go around and we are wise to be more curious than angry.

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@renzistone33 on X, LinkedIn & Substack

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