# A Post-Moloch Laboratory
Welcome to the world's hub for parallel governance, independent societies, and network states. This portal represents the premiere touchpoint for educating the world on the most current, novel, and exciting innovations in governance being explored on the edges of polite society. Note that these forms of governance are often extralegal, experimental, and even radical, based on nascent interdisciplinary findings from blockchain, artificial intelligence, biotech, and more.
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**Parallel governance is a form of rule-making and organizing that exists outside the nation-state but is not necessarily against it.**
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Polis Labs focuses on educating the population away from the idea that democracy is the one-size-fits-all solution for governance or the most optimal choice to generate human freedom. Years of hard-earned research in psychology, game theory, behavioral economics, and neuroscience are positioned to inform the next wave of experimental governance solutions. \
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Our overarching vision is to prevent multipolar traps and coordination failures from occurring and undermining the nascent network state movement. Major organizations are analyzing possibilities for catastrophic global risk, including threats from artificial intelligence, biotech, and climatological change. This is where we come in: our research retains a deep and abiding understanding of Moloch dynamics in game theory, which we believe is needed to prevent catastrophic failures in emergent governance systems.
Let's define Moloch dynamics because we will often return to that concept.
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Moloch
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**Moloch Dynamics**\
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Moloch dynamics refers to the concept where individual rational actors make decisions that lead to collectively undesirable outcomes, often due to competition for resources or lack of coordination. Named after the ancient Canaanite deity, Moloch is associated with demands for costly sacrifices; these dynamics illustrate how competitive environments can lead to suboptimal or destructive results despite each actor striving for their own benefit. Understanding and mitigating Moloch dynamics is vital for creating governance systems that avoid multipolar pitfalls and promote collective success.
#### Synonyms for Moloch Dynamics:
* **Tragedy of the Commons**: A situation where individuals acting in their own interest deplete shared resources, leading to collective loss.
* **Race to the Bottom**: Competitive lowering of standards or regulations resulting in negative outcomes.
* **Prisoner's Dilemma**: A scenario where rational individuals choose personal gain over mutual cooperation, worsening the overall situation.
* **Zero-Sum Game**: An environment where one party's gain equates to another's loss, often fostering competition over collaboration.
* **Collective Action Problem**: Challenges in organizing individuals to achieve a common goal due to conflicting interests.
### Learn more
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