There are myriad conspiracy theories to explain all the evil things that happen in the world. But most evil is not the result of evil individuals choosing to do evil. Think of the military-industrial complex, wars for profit, big pharma, etc. It is rarely individuals deliberately choosing to cause harm. It is Moloch doing it.
I am talking about the "Moloch" from Scott Alexander’s essay, “Meditations on Moloch,” about how negative-sum competition causes a race-to-the-bottom Malthusian trap where everyone sacrifices the greater long-term good to win now.
Large organizations like states and corporations are essentially non-conscious entities that are programmed for more power and profit. It is the system that matters, not the individuals in that system. If an individual within that organization tries to forgo maximum power/profits to benefit humanity, they will be ousted from the organization and replaced by someone who will—or else that organization will be out-competed by another organization that will.
The “Moloch” phenomenon explains so much evil in the world. These are organizational games that are beyond human awareness or control. Moloch explains Covid, Ukraine, as well as most wars in history, the opioid crisis, and so many corporate scandals. There is very rarely an evil genius in the loop—though some exist, like Jeffrey Epstein. But even he was a cog in the machine, not the ultimate leader at the top.
Usually, the evil caused by large organizations occurs from people within those organizations trying to do good, or at least thinking they are doing good, but the system of the organization is out of their control. They may have plausible deniability, saying they didn't really intend to do that, but it was out of their hands—because it probably was. It was Moloch.
