This video explores a hypothetical scenario where death is optional, using the allegory of a kingdom and a dragon to examine how societies adapt to and rationalize seemingly insurmountable threats. It questions how progress, complacency, and human nature interact when faced with a persistent danger that has become integrated into the fabric of life.
The story begins with a kingdom under the tyranny of a dragon. This dragon, covered in thick black scales with glowing eyes and spewing evil-smelling slime, was practically invincible. Attempts to fight it with prayers, curses, or the best weapons were futile, as warriors were incinerated and its armor impenetrable.
The dragon demanded a tribute of 10,000 randomly chosen men and women daily, to be delivered to the foot of the mountain to be eaten. The kingdom, disarmed by the dragon's might, had no choice but to comply, feeding the insatiable hunger and suffering the misery. Over time, humans adapted, accepting the dragon as a fact of life. They began to teach their children that the dragon had a place in the natural order, and that ending up in its stomach was the very meaning of being human, their shorter lives thus motivating them to lead good lives. The dragon also inadvertently helped by keeping the population from growing too fast.
As the kingdom grew, so did the dragon, its appetite increasing. The logistics of collecting and transporting the tribute became a major concern for the king. This led to the creation of numerous jobs and departments: registrars to track who would be sent, collectors to fetch the victims, clerks to administer pensions to decimated families, comforters to ease the anguish of the doomed, and even dragonologists to study how these processes could be made more efficient. The invention of steam engines and the construction of a railway to the mountain further streamlined the process, with trains arriving full and returning empty. Dragonologists also studied the beast itself, collecting samples of its scales, slime, and excrement. The more it was understood, the more its invincibility was confirmed.
However, human ingenuity eventually led to new ideas. A few dragonologists proposed a new attack: a material so sharp it could pierce the dragon's scales, fashioned into a huge projectile and launched with sufficient force and precision. This was acknowledged as difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, with estimates of 15-20 years for completion, or 12 with greater funding, and no guarantee of success.
The proposal was presented at an open hearing. The king's adviser argued against it, emphasizing the jobs that would be lost in the dragon administration, the kingdom's empty coffers after building the railway, and the inherent dignity in accepting one's fate. The leading dragonologist detailed the technicalities and timeline, while the adviser for morality argued that accepting death was a noble aspiration, and that focusing on killing the dragon would distract from living meaningful lives. He concluded that the dragon's nature was to eat, and humanity's was to be eaten, a fulfillment of their noble nature.
The hall fell silent until a small child exclaimed, "The dragon is bad. It kills people. It ate my granny. I want my granny back." This simple statement, followed by others who had lost loved ones to the dragon, shifted the mood. The king, seeing the truth in their collective grief, announced, "Let us kill the dragon."
This announcement galvanized the kingdom. Active support for the anti-dragon cause, previously limited, became the top priority. Mass rallies raised money for the projectile project, and the king, inspired, increased support, passed appropriations bills, and sold his summer castle, vowing to free the world from the dragon within a decade. This initiated a great technological race against time, with thousands of technical problems to solve. Despite unlimited funding and round-the-clock work, the king's initial decade-long deadline could not be met.
However, the effort continued, and a year after the deadline, the first prototype missile was successfully launched. Construction of the final projectile was completed and set to launch on New Year's Eve, 12 years after the project's inauguration. On the day of the launch, as the countdown neared zero, a young clerk, discovering his father was on the last train to the dragon, frantically breached security to plead with the king to stop the train. The king refused, fearing any disruption might alert the dragon and jeopardize the missile's trajectory. He lamented that they hadn't started years earlier, acknowledging the immense loss that could have been prevented if they hadn't accepted the horror for so long.
At the exact moment of the countdown's end, the missile launched, striking the dragon. The masses erupted in joy as the silhouette on the horizon tumbled and fell, followed by a deafening thud as the monster collapsed. Humanity was finally free.
In the aftermath, as the royal entourage huddled in the rain, the king reflected on how much had changed. He spoke of regaining the right to an open future, of being like children again, with time to do better, grow up, and learn from their mistakes. He declared that all the bells in the kingdom would ring in remembrance of the dead, followed by a celebration to begin building a better world, for they now had time.
Here are the key events in the story:
