The quest to overcome human mortality has found new champions in the intersection of cryptocurrency, decentralized science (DeSci), and the transhumanist movement. These emerging forces represent novel approaches to what Nick Beckstead termed "the coordination problem" - or what Scott Alexander, channeling Allen Ginsberg, called "Moloch" - the tendency of competitive systems to produce outcomes nobody wants.

Two Claims About Coordination and Longevity

Before diving deeper, we must distinguish between two fundamentally different claims about the relationship between coordination problems and achieving radical life extension:

The Weak Claim: Better coordination and funding allocation would accelerate progress toward longevity escape velocity. More efficient resource deployment, reduced bureaucratic friction, and aligned incentives would speed up research and development.

The Strong Claim: The primary obstacle to achieving longevity escape velocity is political and social coordination. If we could just "slay Moloch" - solve our coordination problems - immortality would be within reach. Every day without radical life extension represents a failure of politics and coordination rather than a limitation of scientific knowledge.

This article challenges the strong claim, which represents a dangerous misunderstanding of the relationship between coordination and scientific discovery.

DeSci: Reimagining Scientific Funding

DeSci emerged as a radical reimagining of how we fund and conduct scientific research. By leveraging blockchain technology and cryptocurrency mechanisms, it attempts to break free from traditional institutional constraints that often privilege incremental research over revolutionary breakthroughs. Through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and tokenized research funding, DeSci aims to align incentives around ambitious goals like radical life extension.

The promise is compelling: Rather than relying on grant committees or profit-driven pharmaceutical companies, research could be funded directly by communities who share common goals. Smart contracts could automatically distribute rewards for breakthrough results, while tokenization could allow broader participation in scientific funding and governance.

The Fallacy of Pushing on a String

However, the strong claim about coordination solving longevity represents what economists call "pushing on a string" - a futile attempt to force progress through indirect means when the fundamental requirements for advancement aren't present. Just as a string cannot be pushed to move an object (it must be pulled), no amount of coordination can force scientific breakthroughs that require fundamental discoveries we haven't yet made.

Consider an analogy: In 1900, no amount of perfect coordination or political will could have created a successful moon landing program. The requisite scientific understanding and technological capabilities simply didn't exist. First, we needed discoveries in rocketry, materials science, computing, and dozens of other fields. Similarly, we may be missing crucial scientific understanding necessary for achieving radical life extension.

The Transhumanist Political Movement

The U.S. Transhumanist Party represents another front in this battle against Moloch. While their efforts to reduce regulatory barriers and increase research funding are valuable, there's a risk of overemphasizing political solutions to what may be, at its core, a scientific challenge. The danger lies in mistaking political action for scientific progress - what might be called "coordination theater" that creates the illusion of movement while failing to address fundamental knowledge gaps.

Beyond Coordination Theater

This critique isn't an argument for inaction. Rather, it's a call for redirecting energy from "political makework" toward more fundamental scientific exploration. Instead of assuming that better coordination alone will unlock immortality, we should:

Invest heavily in blue sky research that might reveal entirely new paradigms for understanding aging
Maintain diverse research approaches rather than prematurely converging on current theories
Accept that some crucial discoveries may require serendipity and exploration rather than directed effort
Recognize when we're engaging in coordination theater versus genuine scientific advancement

The Unknown Unknowns

The history of science shows that breakthrough discoveries often come from unexpected directions and require entirely new ways of thinking. The path to understanding aging may require insights we cannot yet imagine, let alone coordinate toward achieving.

A More Nuanced Approach

This reality suggests the need for a balanced perspective that:

Accepts the weak claim about coordination while rejecting the strong claim
Recognizes the value of better coordination while understanding its limitations
Prioritizes fundamental research over political theater
Maintains epistemic humility about what we don't yet know or understand

Conclusion

While slaying Moloch through DeSci and transhumanist political organization represents an important step, it's crucial to recognize the limitations of coordination-focused approaches. The path to radical life extension requires both better human coordination and fundamental scientific discoveries that may currently lie beyond our grasp.

Rather than engaging in futile "wheel spinning" through excessive focus on coordination and politics, we should direct more energy toward exploratory research that might reveal entirely new approaches to understanding and addressing aging. The ultimate solution requires not just slaying Moloch, but also embracing the uncertain and often serendipitous nature of scientific discovery.

To achieve immortality, we must learn to distinguish between productive coordination efforts and mere coordination theater, while maintaining the humility to admit that some breakthroughs cannot be forced through political will alone.

The Coordination Paradox: When Slaying Moloch Isn't Enough