As a mental exercise, try to quantify the amount of context that was necessary for Bernie Madoff to pull off his scam. Every meeting with investors, regulators. All the non-language cues like facial expressions and tone of voice. Every document and email. I'll bet it took a huge amount of mental effort to be Bernie Madoff, and he had to keep it going for years.

All that for a few paltry billion dollars, and it still came crashing down eventually. Converting all of humanity to paperclips is going to require masterful planning and execution.