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Chapter 3: Moloch’s Toolbox | Inadequate Equilibria

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There’s a toolbox of reusable concepts for analyzing systems I would call “inadequate”—the causes of civilizational failure, some of which correspond to local opportunities to do better yourself. I shall, somewhat arbitrarily, sort these concepts into three larger categories: and above all, In other words: I will then play fast and loose with these concepts in order to fit the entire Taxonomy of Failure inside them. For example, “irrationality in the form of cognitive biases” wouldn’t obviously fit into any of these categories, but I’m going to shove it inside “asymmetric information” via a clever sleight-of-hand. Ready? Here goes: If nobody can detect a cognitive bias in particular cases, then from our perspective we can’t really call it a “civilizational inadequacy” or “failure to pluck a low-hanging fruit.” We shouldn’t even be able to see it ourselves. So, on the contrary, let’s suppose that you and some other people can indeed detect a cognitive bias that’s screwing up civilizatio

Chapter 3: Moloch’s Toolbox | Inadequate Equilibria Inadequate Equilibria --> Chapter 3 Moloch’s Toolbox There’s a toolbox of reusable concepts for analyzing systems I would call “inadequate”—the causes of civilizational failure, some of which correspond to local opportunities to do better yourself. I shall, somewhat arbitrarily, sort these concepts into three larger categories: Decisionmakers who are not beneficiaries; Asymmetric information; and above all, Nash equilibria that aren’t even the best Nash equilibrium, let alone Pareto-optimal. In other words: Cases where the decision lies in th

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