Like many people, I have quite a lot of stuff that I've written that exists only in googledoc form. In writing a comment response to Wei Dai, I wanted to point to a concept that I realised I hadn't published. So I thought I should practice what I preach, and put the idea out as a post. But warning — the level of polish is likely a lot lower than other things I might write.

Lock-in escape velocity

One dynamic that makes long-term path-dependence more likely to occur in the near future is lock-in escape velocity: that short periods of entrenchment can turn into longer periods of entrenchment.

Suppose that a one-world government is formed, and the leaders of that government are able to entrench their power for a comparatively short period of time, so they very probably stay in power for 10 years. But, in that time, they [...]

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Outline:

(00:32) Lock-in escape velocity

(02:11) Bootstrapping to viatopia

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First published:

Source:

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.