Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“The Fenris wolf has a problem. He would like to prove his strength by breaking the third fetter as he proved it by braking the previous two that the gods put on him. But he does not trust the gods — would you trust someone who wanted to tie you up? — so will only let them bind him if he has a guarantee that if he cannot break it they will free him. The gods have a problem. There is no power above them to enforce contracts, so their promise to free him is worthless — and besides, they don’t actually plan to keep it. … The solution Fenrir proposes is for the gods to give a hostage to guarantee performance of their promise.” (11/08/25)