---
# System prepended metadata

title: Moloch Meme Thinking
tags: [Memes]

---

---
tags: Memes
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# Moloch Meme Thinking

### Origins

The name was inspired by Meditations on Moloch by Scott Alexander of slatestarcodex. Read the essay here for full context => https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/

The purpose of a dao is to lower trust/coordination cost so that humans cooperate on common goals, aligning individual incentives with those of a greater community.

Moloch, the god of coordination failure, is an incredibly powerful meme for a dao framework.

#### Pros
- Powerful meme that matches purpose (human coordination as schelling point)
- Haz positive traction (folks who know/understand the meme and rally behind it)
- Acts as memetic filter


#### Cons
- Memes are like inside jokes and require historical context to understand. The Moloch meme is no different.
- Haz negative traction (i.e. folks who can't get past their initial biases)
- Imagery of demons, sacrifice are brick walls that some can't get past.

#### Points of Friction

It seems the main source of the friction in gaining further traction of the moloch meme is this discrepancy between old and new community members. OGs are fully aware of the origin story and subsequent meaning of the meme. Newcomers have less historical context and enter with personal biases that act as friction (See demon, must worship demon?). One reason for this discrepancy could very well just be that there hasn't been a schelling point for continuous narrative building/sharing of the meme. Other bits of friction arise from Moloch DAO itself, who is frequently perceived to 'own' Moloch as a framework, but has not even been much a supporter of Moloch as a framework.

#### Opportunities for Improvement

- Leverage the power of the Moloch meme, but allow it to grow/expand into a new meme. 
- Pay tribute to its history, while becoming more inviting to a larger community.
- Distinguish the framework from Moloch DAO.

#### Other Notes 

**Memes > Branding**
Memes are permissionles and created by and for the community, and this fits nicely with the framework's ethos.


#### Ideas

What if:

We flip the narrative to directly 'Slaying Moloch' as opposed to 'worshipping it'?

Coopt Moloch into a friendly creature, as if we've tamed it?

Random Castle ideas
  - "DAOhaus is building community castles"
    - Burg (german)
    - Grad (slovenian)

What about obscuring Moloch, kind of like was done in Pokemol...Modmol, molmod, exmol, molex, etc? 

Also idea of transition from Moloch Mystic 2x to just Mystic or MolMystic






