This piece considers the old metaphor of reward vs punishment as a means of cultivating a desired behavior. The image that comes to mind for me is that of the donkey with a rider dangling a carrot to induce forward progress. Added to this is the reputation for stubbornness associated with donkeys, suggesting some means of coercion is necessary when dealing with such beasts of burden.
In this imagining the donkey is alone and autonomous, free of burden with the agency to consider various sticks and wild carrots littering the ground before it. Alongside the carrots are poison hemlock whose foliage is often confused with that of the wild carrot, introducing an element of risk involved in the effort - perhaps a cost/benefit analysis of a free lunch.