Astral Codex Ten

Hell

5 min read

Hell

Article

Hell is a recurring concept in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 3 times across 3 issues between September 01, 2023 and May 29, 2025. The archive places it in contexts such as “medieval Europe believed in Hell and heresy”; “even an all-merciful God could not restrain Himself from creating Hell”; “endorsed by leading Hell experts”. It most often appears alongside George Mason University, Marginal Revolution, PEPFAR.

Metadata

  • Category: Concepts
  • Mention count: 3
  • Issue count: 3
  • First seen: September 01, 2023
  • Last seen: May 29, 2025

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

Your Book Review: Zuozhuan
September 01, 2023 · Original source
More than three thousand years ago, the Shang dynasty ruled the Chinese heartland. They raised a sprawling capital out of the yellow plains, and cast magnificent ritual vessels from bronze. One of the criteria of civilization is writing, and they had the first Chinese writing, incising questions on turtle shells and ox scapulae, applying a heated rod, and reading the response of the spirits in the pattern of cracks. “This year will Shang receive good harvest?” “Is the sick stomach due to ancestral harm?” “Offer three hundred Qiang prisoners to [the deceased] Father Ding?” The kings of Shang maintained a hegemony over their neighbors through military prowess, and sacrificed war captives from their campaigns totaling in the tens of thousands for the favor of their ancestors.
I’ve seen one reader exclaim that the people of the Spring and Autumn era read like demonic spirits. Figures from even a century or two later argue from nice rational self-interest in ways that are comprehensible to us today, but for the people in the Zuozhuan, especially the early figures, the world spun on different axes. That’s not to say they didn’t understand self-interest, or that their high-flown speeches couldn’t disguise ruthless calculation, but they interfaced with the world through concepts like Heaven’s Mandate and ritual propriety, truly believed in them the way medieval Europe believed in Hell and heresy. Only, while medieval thinkers at least had ideas from the Classical world to draw on, the thinkers of the Spring and Autumn had no predecessors from more advanced societies than theirs. They were from a Bronze Age kin-based society forced to rapidly scale up by its own success, far beyond what their existing customs and worldview had evolved for. Later peripheral conquerors of China could at least copy the homework of the existing empire, but the Zhou conquered the Shang, whose rudimentary state had never managed more than loose hegemony beyond their core lands, a parochial project next to what the Zhou had committed to. In that light, it’s truly impressive that the Zhou were as successful as they were.
Contra MR On Charity Regrants
May 22, 2025 · Original source
Politics is nasty and sometimes involves lies. But the thousands of doctors, nurses, and charity workers who give up more lucrative careers elsewhere to save lives in the developing world are some of my heroes. I’ve talked to many of these people (see my father’s story of his time in this world here) and I couldn’t do what they do for a month, let alone a whole career. When Trump and Rubio try to tar them as grifters in order to make it slightly easier to redistribute their Congress-earmarked money to kleptocrats and billionaire cronies, this goes beyond normal political lying into the sort of thing that makes you the scum of the earth, the sort of person for whom even an all-merciful God could not restrain Himself from creating Hell.
Inline links: see my father’s story of his time in this world here
Sorry, I Still Think MR Is Wrong About USAID
May 29, 2025 · Original source
Scott writes: “When Trump and Rubio try to tar them [US AID] as grifters in order to make it slightly easier to redistribute their Congress-earmarked money to kleptocrats and billionaire cronies, this goes beyond normal political lying into the sort of thing that makes you the scum of the earth, the sort of person for whom even an all-merciful God could not restrain Himself from creating Hell.” Is that how the rationalist community should be presenting itself? In a time when innocent Americans are gunned down in the streets for their (ostensible) political views, and political assassination attempts seem to be rising, and there even has been a rationalist murder cult running around, does this show a morally responsible and clear thinking approach to the post that was published?
I want to make it clear: I am not recommending that people kill Donald Trump or Marco Rubio. I am recommending that God consider sending them to Hell. I think this is a moderate compromise proposal, endorsed by leading Hell experts2.
Inline links: endorsed by leading Hell experts, 2
As a Jew, I believe that people are only tortured in Hell for twelve months, and get Saturdays off (really!). Like I said, moderate compromise!
Inline links: really!