Extinction Bounties

Policy-based deterrence for the 21st century.

Policy-research disclaimer

Extinction Bounties publishes theoretical economic and legal mechanisms intended to stimulate scholarly and public debate on catastrophic-risk governance. The site offers policy analysis and advocacy only in the sense of outlining possible legislative or contractual frameworks.

No legal or financial advice

Nothing here should be treated as a substitute for qualified legal counsel, financial due diligence, or regulatory guidance. Readers remain responsible for ensuring their actions comply with the laws and professional standards of their own jurisdictions.

Exploratory and personal views

All scenarios, numerical examples and opinions are research hypotheses presented by the author in a personal capacity. They do not represent the views of the author's employer, funding bodies, or any governmental authority.

Implementation caveats

Any real-world adoption of these ideas would require democratic deliberation, statutory authority, and robust safeguards against misuse. References to enforcement, penalties, or "bounties" are illustrative models, not instructions or invitations to engage in private policing or unlawful conduct. Nothing here is an accusation against, or a call to act against, any person or organisation; see non-targeting.

No warranty and limited liability

Content is provided "as is" without warranty of completeness or accuracy; the author disclaims liability for losses arising from reliance on this material.

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Qualia

  • 01. The Only Thing You Know Is Conscious

    The one fact about qualia you have direct access to is your own, and you cannot get behind that fact to check anyone else's.

    alpha revised 2026-10-20

  • 02. A Best Lower Bound on Other Minds

    Absent proof, best answer I have found to the problem of other minds, of who is or is not a moral patient, is to use a similarity-weighted, pluralist prior.

    alpha revised 2026-10-20

  • 03. Competence Does Not Require Qualia

    The successionist error: treating capability as evidence of moral patienthood. It is not, and people are strangely reluctant to say so.

    alpha revised 2026-10-20

  • 04. The Universe With Nobody Home

    Not suffering, not human extinction as such: a cosmos in which nothing experiences anything, and which therefore has no moral relevance at all.

    alpha revised 2026-10-20

  • Illusionism Pulls Out the First Brick

    Illusionism denies the one fact the sequence is built on. It does not strictly imply that nothing matters, but it gets closer than its defenders admit, and the case for precaution has to be rebuilt without qualia to survive it.

    zeigarnik revised 2026-10-20

  • Qualia Might Be an Accident

    The thought that experience has no job to do is not mine and not new. It has at least three names, one serious objection, and consequences for everything else I argue.

    alpha revised 2026-09-13

  • Why I Don't Take Negative Utilitarianism Seriously

    The empty universe is negative utilitarianism's global optimum and my worst case. That is not a disagreement about weights; it is a disagreement about the sign of the term.

    alpha revised 2026-09-13