The "Paris 1937 World's Fair" was a dick measuring contest. At the time, the world was on the verge of the worst war in history. The fair was an opportunity for powers to flex and intimidate each other. Who has more industrial might, more sophisticated engineering and better science?

How do you measure that? Different countries were assigned different areas of the fair and were given freedom to build a “Pavilion”, basically a museum of how cool the country is. It was an important public relations opportunity to showcase your power. What is better, communism or fascism? Obviously, it's whoever can build a cooler pavilion, and whoever has a better pavilion is going to win the upcoming war!

Soviet pavilion on the right, Nazi pavilion on the left

The organizers placed the Soviet and Nazi pavilions right in front of each other, and it created a very competitive dynamic. The Russians built a giant modernist building from stainless steel with a statue-of-liberty-sized sculpture of two members of the proletariat. The Nazis built a modern replica of an imperial Roman building, beautifully ornamented, with statues of jacked Aryan Übermensches flexing. The Nazis even sent their spies to steal the plans [...]

The original text contained 4 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
June 12th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/TTHi7yNheaoepWKfR/reward-hacking-at-the-1937-world-s-fair

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Soviet pavilion on the right, Nazi pavilion on the left

Adolf and Neville. This fishing photo decorated a 40ft tall wall in the British pavilion.

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“Reward Hacking at the 1937 World’s Fair” by frmsaul

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Reward Hacking at the 1937 World’s Fair” by frmsaul