In the early hours of New Year’s Day 2026, a fire broke out at Le Constellation, a crowded venue in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Within 140 s, flames fuelled by polyurethane foam spread across the ceiling, generating dense toxic smoke. 40 people lost their lives, most of them teenagers and young adults. In the aftermath, eyewitness videos showed several individuals continuing to film the unfolding fire rather than seeking escape. The question quickly followed: why were they filming instead of running?
This is not just a moral question but a scientific puzzle that demands serious attention. Public discourse following Crans-Montana offered fragmented explanations: generational narcissism, social media addiction, moral failure and stupidity. We propose that these accounts, while each containing truth, miss the underlying cognitive architecture. Similar patterns have emerged across continents: at the 2021 Astroworld Festival crowd crush in Houston, at the 2022 Itaewon Halloween disaster in Seoul, and in Swedish emergency…