>[!abstract] >Moloch, Molech, or Molek is a word which appears in the Hebrew Bible several times, primarily in the Book of Leviticus. The Bible strongly condemns practices that are associated with Moloch, which are heavily implied to include child sacrifice. ("Moloch", 2025). >[!abstract] >A Moloch Trap is, in simple terms, a [[Zero-sum game|zero-sum game]]. It explains a situation where participants compete for object or outcome X but make something else worse in the process. Everyone competes for X, but in doing so, everyone ends up worse off. (Ritchie, 2024). >[!abstract] >Everyone is sitting in a football stadium. If someone at the very front stands up to get an even better view, it forces everyone else behind to adopt the same strategy just to get to where they were before, but now everyone is stuck standing up and no one has a better view than before. It’s a lose-lose situation. Moloch is present here. (Olsson, 2023). ## References - Moloch. (2025, January 2). In *Wikipedia*. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moloch&oldid=1266006205 - Olsson, O. (2023). Moloch — a race to the bottom where everyone loses. *Medium*. https://medium.com/@happybits/moloch-a-race-to-the-bottom-where-everyone-loses-a1a51d1f1919 - Ritchie, H. (2024). The Moloch trap of environmental problems. *Sustainability by numbers*. https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/moloch-trap ## Related - [[Distributive bargaining]] - [[Tragedy of the commons]] - [[Zero-sum game]]