Confession
State the wrongdoing in your own words. On submission the text is sealed and destroyed; we retain only its cryptographic digest. No one reads it. Not even us. Especially not us.
Evidence-based moral offsetting · Est. MMXXVI
Penance,
optimised.
Indulgences is the world's first ethical-offsetting platform. Based on the principles of medieval contrition, updated with modern effectiveness principles, Indulgences applies expected-value reasoning to the oldest offset market in history. Anonymously confess a wrongdoing: our model scores it for sin scale and tractability, and prices your moral liability. Offset it at a rigorously estimated $3.01 per Guilt Unit averted ~ and receive a unique relic as your receipt.
Anonymous. Irreversible. Evidence-based.
0
Guilt Units offset to date
0
Indulgences issued
0%
Average psychological uplift
0
Absolutions guaranteed
The method
Four movements.
One transaction.
Assessment
Our model weighs category, severity, and years carried — ethical debt compounds at 3.1% per annum — then applies a 12% moral-uncertainty discount. You receive a Moral Liability Estimate, denominated in Guilt Units (GU), to two decimal places.
Contribution
Pay your indulgence at $3.01 per Guilt Unit averted — to our knowledge the most cost-effective absolution intervention available. The amount is suggested, never demanded. Guilt averted scales linearly with contribution. Evidence: forthcoming.
Issuance
A Talent is minted to your wallet — a unique digital relic, a corrupted north star, numbered to your indulgence. It is your receipt. It is also a reminder. These are the same thing.
The cause area
Guilt: important,
tractable, neglected.
We evaluated moral repair the way one evaluates any candidate cause. It scored embarrassingly well.
Scale
Everyone is guilty of something. Most people are guilty of several things. The global burden of unoffset guilt is conservatively estimated in the billions of Guilt Units, and growing.
Tractability
Guilt responds reliably to ritual, at any dosage, with no known ceiling effect. Observed effect sizes are large, immediate, and unverifiable.
Neglectedness
Carbon has offsets. Portfolios have hedges. Reputations have publicists. No major funder is working on your soul. We fund the gap.
The public ledger
Registry of recent offsets
Confessions are sealed. Liabilities are public. This is the arrangement.
| Nº | Category | Liability | Offset | Settled |
|---|
Digest verification available on request. Confession texts are not retained and cannot be produced, subpoenaed, or remembered.
The artefact
Every receipt,
a Talent.
Each indulgence mints a Talent — a unique digital relic, generated at the moment of offset and issued to your wallet. No two renders are alike. No seed is reused. Your number is written into the token itself: a north star, corrupted, for a conscience that no longer resolves cleanly.
The Talent does not contain your confession.
It contains the fact that you made one.
- EditionUnique — 1 of 1, on-chain
- StandardERC-721 · minted on issuance
- FormA glitched north star; every render unrepeatable
- CustodyYours, irrevocably — like the deed
Due diligence
Compare interventions
We encourage participants to compare providers of moral repair before committing. Bring a spreadsheet.
| Cost per GU averted | Evidence quality | Counterfactual impact | Absolution guaranteed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indulgences | $3.01 | A Talent is minted | Total — the Talent would not otherwise exist | No |
| Carbon offsets | $41 | Contested | Additionality disputed | No |
| Charitable donation | $220 | Strong — for someone else's problem | High, elsewhere | No |
| Ethical consumption | $380 | Anecdotal | Negligible | No |
| Apologising | Unpriced | Robust but distressing | Dangerously high | No |
Participant accounts
Reported outcomes
“I feel lighter. I don't know why, and I have decided not to ask.”
— Indulgence Nº 0341
“The object sits on my desk. Whether it forgives me is between it and me.”
— Indulgence Nº 0512
“I compared eleven providers of moral repair in a spreadsheet. This was the only one where the deliverable was falsifiable.”
— Indulgence Nº 0777
“I did it again. I came back. They issued me a second one without comment. I appreciated that.”
— Indulgences Nº 0208 & Nº 0961
Questions
Frequently sought assurances
Is my confession really anonymous?
Yes. The text is sealed on submission and immediately reduced to a cryptographic digest. We keep the digest as proof that a confession occurred, and nothing as proof of what it contained.
Does this actually absolve me?
We are contractually unable to answer this question.
How is the suggested contribution calculated?
Category multiplier × severity index, compounded at 3.1% per annum for each year carried, less a 12% moral-uncertainty discount, priced at $3.01 per Guilt Unit averted. The methodology is proprietary, rigorous, and — like all moral accounting — invented.
Why not just donate to a maximally effective charity?
Per dollar, you would avert more harm. You would avert none of your guilt. Guilt is a distinct cause area — enormous in scale, highly tractable, and almost entirely neglected. We fund the gap.
How do you handle moral uncertainty?
All liabilities carry a 12% moral-uncertainty discount. If it turns out that nothing matters, the discount was insufficient, and no further action is required.
Is this effective altruism?
It is altruism directed entirely at yourself, conducted with maximal rigour. The movement has not yet claimed us. We remain hopeful.
What is my contribution used for?
Materials, craft, and the continuation of the work. Your money becomes the object you receive. The circularity is intentional.
Can I offset on behalf of someone else?
Historically, yes — the proxy indulgence is a venerable instrument. We honour the tradition. The relic is sent to you, however. They never need to know. That may itself require offsetting.
What if I do it again?
Repeat offsetting is common and carries no penalty rate. Volume pricing is not available and never will be.
Is this a religion, a charity, or therapy?
No; no; we cannot say.
Can I get a refund?
Guilt, once offset, cannot be reinstated. All transactions are final. So is everything else.