This is our Great Filter.
You have people all over the world watching their homes burn down or get swept away by rainfall and some guy in LA thinks to himself “hey, I think I can make some profit here”. Not just that, they will cause even more fires, more destruction and anguish and they know it. They just don’t care. In a healthy system a person like that would be immediately excluded from society as someone sick and dangerous. In our system we don’t have tools to do anything about it. The system will actually encourage millions of people to participate in this disgusting game, no one will face any consequences, the rich will get richer. The society as a whole is unable to deal with it. This is how it all will end.
To be clear, realizing that capitalism leads to catastrophe and abandoning capitalism is the great filter. (imo)
These so-called prediction matkets are just another symptom of capitalism gone off the rails.
Of course, that’s what I mean by “the system”. Capitalism evolved to shield bad people from responsibility. Thousands if not millions of people invested in Space X making Elon a trillionaire and they will never face any consequences for supporting a Nazi and his extremely harmful businesses. They are all hidden and protected by the system. If you want to protest any of it you have to do it in public and get ready for consequences. This imbalance was created on purpose. It’s easier for people to be part of the system than to oppose it.
How about a crackdown on politicians lining their pockets with insider trading?
- Let’s do something about this very specific, immediate danger!
- How about something completely different that doesn’t solve this problem but is also way more difficult to achieve?
Crackdown until someone teaches them how to do it then it becomes essential to a capitalist society.
Just the wildfire ones? Not the entire idea? 🤨
Of course the entire thing is an insidious cancer, but allowing people to bet on catastrophes they can potentially bring about or intensify themselves is on another level of dangerous.
“There’s also the heightened risk—according to state and local fire officials—that individuals could be tempted to commit arson in order to make sure their bets are successful,” the letter continues. “By offering contracts on fires, prediction market sites run the risk of encouraging people to influence fires that have already started, creating additional concerns around public safety and insider trading.”
That’s some Ankh-Morpork shit right there.
Regular, controlled burnings should be done to prevent these massive wildfires.
Especially now that the climate has made them worse.
