The Sustainability Crisis is a Moloch Game
Our world is on the brink of catalytic tipping points. Life on planet Earth is radically shifting in ways we’re not prepared for. Increasing political polarization and socio-economic divisions undermine the necessary actions to shift trajectories from collapse to thriving.
The latest Climate research indicates how we are continuing the upward trend towards 2 to 3°C of global warming, which is a trajectory of systemic collapse of many of our most vital planetary life-support systems. As a systems scientist, I’ve been studying these trends for over a decade. In particular, the archetypal self-destructive loops of our ‘race to the bottom’.
The mainstream economic systems of modernized societies are the offspring of mechanistic models and worldviews from the Industrial Age, based on outdated Newtonian sciences that presumed a universe of random parts and particles held together by immutable mechanistic laws.
The latest research from informational sciences and quantum physics confirms that we don’t live in a mechanistic random universe. Instead, we live in a universe that is informationally unified at deeper orders of reality, and behaves as a complex living system of networked relationships.
Mechanistic systems and growth models are unsustainable by design, because they are not coherent with the evolutionary dynamics of the universe. Mechanistically designed economies fail to integrate and respond to the feedback loops of the vital planetary boundaries that safeguard our lives. Furthermore, mechanistic growth models are extractive by design by rewarding short-term profit maximization at the expense of social and planetary carrying capacities. But of course,…all in the name of ‘progress.’
In other words, we’re in a rat race to the bottom driven by systems (or leaders) without brakes. Exponential extractive growth on a finite planet with limited resources creates systemic collapse, it’s that simple. Expanding our operations to Mars, or other planets, doesn’t solve the root problem!
Societies are not machines with ‘controllable parts’, not even new forms of AI-driven intelligent machines. Societies are complex living systems, which require a careful balancing of the multitude of interconnections and their networked relationships.
We’re part of an infinite game of life, while trapped in the finite games of modern societies that are out of step with life.
In those finite games, there are no winners, only losers. It’s not too late to shift this now, but it does require bold actions and radical transformations.
Furthermore, mechanistic systems also create persistent systemic transformation barriers that undermine the necessary actions and collaborations for solving the greatest challenges of our time. You can learn more about this through my research here.
Wishing for Change doesn’t create it
Unless we address the underlying drivers or ‘game dynamics’ of our modern societies — i.e. feedback loops, rewards, incentives — we’re driving blindly into a perfect storm hoping for a better outcome. Insanity.
The huge implementation gap of the globally agreed United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is symptomatic of the deeper systemic traps that remain unaddressed.
On 22–23 September there will be the UN Summit of the Future to address systemic gaps in global governance, and reaffirm existing commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Charter (among others). I sincerely hope that the underlying game dynamics of the ‘global governance gaps’ will be brought to light.
We have to stop externalizing ‘the problem space’ and get honest about how we are creating this perfect storm.
More than half of the world’s population, across more than 40 countries, will go to the polls this year. It’s going to be a huge test for our democracies, and the values by which we decide on what matters, who wins, and who loses.
The Moloch Game
Moloch is the name of an ancient Canaanite god (or demon) who demanded child sacrifice as a method of worship. The concept of Moloch in game theory is derived from this ancient anthropomorphic deity, to describe the behaviors by which we sacrifice our future wellbeing — prioritizing the fulfillment of short-term goals and quick gains. Incentivizing ‘winner-takes-it-all’ and ‘race-to-the-bottom’ game dynamics. It is precisely this pattern that is driving the sustainability crises. A game loop by which we ultimately cause our own self-destruction.
The Moloch dynamics on Earth are invisible to the average player, and yet most of us are trapped in it. The famous poem “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg, summarizes how Moloch as an archetype continues today. Here is a short section from that poem:
“Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments! Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch in whom I sit lonely! Moloch in whom I dream Angels! Crazy in Moloch! Cocksucker in Moloch! Lacklove and manless in Moloch!Moloch who entered my soul early! Moloch in whom I am a consciousness without a body! Moloch who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy! Moloch whom I abandon! Wake up in Moloch!” ~ Allen Ginsberg, 1955–1956.
Scott Alexander published an article on Ginsberg’s poem, titled “Meditations on Moloch.” He raised the following point, “The implicit question is — if everyone hates the current system, who perpetuates it? And Ginsberg answers: “Moloch”. It’s powerful not because it’s correct — nobody literally thinks an ancient Carthaginian demon causes everything — but because thinking of the system as an agent throws into relief the degree to which the system isn’t an agent.”
Mechanistic systems become Moloch systems when they are incentivized for negative-sum game competition and quick wins for selfish gain at the expense of others.
Mechanistic systems with Moloch incentives reward behaviors that undermine our collective wellbeing, discounting what sustains our lives, and externalizing the costs we create by using such systems.
‘Moloch’ game dynamics are driving our world to collapse, which makes it tragically a game of world destruction disguised as the promise for a better life. See also this conversation with Daniel Schmachtenberger and Liv Boeree.
Creating a Game for Transforming Moloch
In 2021, I started to work on the idea for a game to ‘take on Moloch’ in real life. I wrote about this in our book Return of the Avatars, book 2 of the Future Humans Trilogy, which I co-authored with my friend Dr. Jean Houston. The book was published in 2022 and became a winner of the 2023 Gold Nautilus Book Award for books that inspire a positive future.
Beginning of 2023, I started the development of the real game, initially as a multiplayer online role-playing video game (MMORPG), and later in 2024 shifted our focus to a web-based collectible card game (CCG) where you play against the ‘Moloch AI’.
Embarking on this game development with ‘technologies for good’ has been the biggest challenge I’ve taken on so far as an entrepreneur. All the real-life Moloch dynamics, especially those in finance and crypto, game to the fore. At times, it’s felt (and still feels) like an impossible task to get this off the ground. However, now more than a year later, an amazing team has grown around the project and share the same commitment — to change the world by playing to thrive and take on Moloch!
The Elowyn: Quest of Time game is a fun and transformational Play2Thrive game that empowers players to create real-life positive impact with benevolent artificial intelligences they help train. Powered by a sustainable token economy, Elowyn offers players economic benefits while also contributing to funding support for projects — including their own — that positively impact both the planet and humanity.
Launching end of September, the freemium web-based CCG teaser (MVP) provides utility for the EWA token launch while engaging the Elowyn community with fun gameplay and early-stage input. The Alpha version of the CCG is planned for December 2024, with MMORPG development planned for 2025.
Elowyn: Quest of Time puts the power of transformation in your hands with technologies for good. Supported by a global community of pioneers and visionaries that form part of the EARTHwise movement. Join us in shaping Elowyn’s future!
The Game Economy and EWA token
We’ve developed a transformative token-powered reward model, to shift the harmful Moloch incentives, modeling a new ‘Play2Thrive’ game genre, rather than the dominant ‘Play2Earn’ and ‘Pay2Win’ genres.
The Elowyn game economy operates as a living ecosystem with incentives and solutions for thriving together, regenerating the Earth, and securing our shared future. The game tokenomics is designed to empower players and support the causes we care for with cutting-edge GameFi and Defi solutions.
EWA is the native in-game token for the Elowyn game, based on ERC20 standards and minted on the Base blockchain. EWA stands for Earth Wise Abundance, which in reverse reads as ‘AWE.’ In the game, EWA is the name for the seed of the Elowyn Tree. Planting EWA in real life enables players to stake and donate their tokens to help fund solutions for the causes we care for together. This is done through the Elowyn DAO, which is the governance platform for the EWA tokenholders. The game also leverages ERC721-based NFTs that allow players to power up their characters throughout different quests. For more information read our Whitepaper.
Join us in Creating the Elowyn Game
We’d love to hear your ideas about “Taking on Moloch” in-game and in real life. Join the Conversation and our Community via:
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- EARTHwise Games website: https://earthwise.games/
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