---
source: web
author: "Scott Alexander"
title: "Meditations on Moloch"
date: 2014-07-30
url: "https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/"
status: processed
processed_by: theseus
processed_date: 2026-04-02
claims_extracted:
  - "AI accelerates existing Molochian dynamics by removing bottlenecks not creating new misalignment because the competitive equilibrium was always catastrophic and friction was the only thing preventing convergence"
  - "four restraints prevent competitive dynamics from reaching catastrophic equilibrium and AI specifically erodes physical limitations and bounded rationality leaving only coordination as defense"
  - "multipolar traps are the thermodynamic default because competition requires no infrastructure while coordination requires trust enforcement and shared information all of which are expensive and fragile"
enrichments:
  - "the alignment tax creates a structural race to the bottom because safety training costs capability and rational competitors skip it"
---

# Meditations on Moloch — Scott Alexander (2014)

Foundational essay on multipolar traps and competitive dynamics that systematically sacrifice values for competitive advantage. Structured around Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" and the figure of Moloch as personification of coordination failure.

## Key Arguments

1. **14 examples of multipolar traps** spanning biology (Malthusian trap), economics (capitalism without regulation, two-income trap), politics (arms races, regulatory races to the bottom), and social dynamics (education arms race, science publishing). All instantiate the same mechanism: individually rational optimization producing collectively catastrophic outcomes.

2. **Four restraints** that prevent competitive dynamics from destroying all value: excess resources, physical limitations, utility maximization (bounded rationality), and coordination mechanisms. Alexander argues all four are eroding.

3. **Moloch as the default state** — competitive dynamics require no infrastructure; coordination requires trust, enforcement, shared information, and ongoing maintenance. The asymmetry makes Molochian dynamics the thermodynamic default.

4. **The superintendent question** — only a sufficiently powerful coordinator (Alexander's "Elua") can overcome Moloch. This frames the AI alignment question as: will superintelligence serve Moloch (accelerating competitive dynamics) or Elua (enabling coordination)?

## Extraction Notes

- ~40% overlap with Leo's attractor-molochian-exhaustion musing which synthesizes Alexander's framework
- The four-restraint taxonomy was absent from KB — extracted as standalone claim
- The "multipolar traps as default" principle was implicit across KB but never stated as standalone — extracted to foundations/collective-intelligence
- The mechanism claim (AI removes bottlenecks, doesn't create new misalignment) is novel synthesis from Alexander + manuscript + Schmachtenberger
