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I know more rich people than i care to admit on the internet. Long story short, they're mostly useless human beings busy investing in whatever makes the next do
by drzaiusapelord 15y ago
I know more rich people than i care to admit on the internet. Long story short, they're mostly useless human beings busy investing in whatever makes the next dollar, dying, and handing off their treasure to their spoiled children and grandchildren who will squander it or continue to do the same.
You're cherry picking a handful of nerd billionaires who are getting into, lets face it, a pretty big gamble right now. SpaceX is the only success story of all the commercial space companies and the whole "The rich will find a way to become immortal and sell us the serum" scenario is this weird opposite of classism.
I'd also add that this mentality is why we had kings and dicators in human history. We're just too prone to thinking a few alpha males will Fix Everything and pesky things like division of power, politics, just get in the way of our Ayn Rand heroes. I think you can figure out in the lifecycle of kingdoms and dictatorships that the endgame is never paradise. Its usually a long ongoing nightmare of cronyism and human rights violations.
Weird to see a western person dismiss the incredible priviledge he has and free speech rights and lack of obligations of serfdom/slavery suddenly take up the mantle of 'let the alpha males fix everything you stupid bureaucratic peons.'
Just out of curiosity, do you think these gentle nerds would have thrived in a environment like the one you're applauding? Imagine Bill Joy or Wozniack or Bezos born into a crony capitalistic environment. Something tells me without the nannying of the western enlightened nanny state with its safe streets and cheap public education, would any of these guys have had the class mobility or opportunity to move upwards? Makes me wonder how many geniuses are being pissed away in places where the alpha males rule harshly. The world has probably lost hundreds of north korean and somalian genuises.
- kajro 15y agoJust a note: Isn't the mindset that "thinking a few alpha males will Fix Everything" exactly what Ayn Rand was condemning?
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- bradleyland 15y agoWow. This is pretty much the exact opposite of what I was thinking. Let's back up and make a few things clear: 1) I'm excited that these billionaires (and many before them) are doing great things with their money. 2) The benevolent dictator tie in was not a wish for benevolent dictatorships, but rather an observation. It's not like I'm dreaming of a future where James Cameron becomes King of America. I kind of like the spot they're in today. Their wealth gives them the opportunity to do amazing things, but we're not at risk of Elon Musk executing a coup. 3) One of my favorite pieces of fiction is the graphic novel Watchmen. I like it because it is such a fantastic critique on the hero archetype. I don't see people like James Cameron or Elon Musk as some sort of infallible hero, but rather I'm amazed that they rise above their flaws to do great things. My comments were abbreviated, because I don't have time to write a book. I think that my excitement is being interpreted in many different ways, and I'm ok with that, but I want to be clear about what I appreciate, and this portion of your comment really rubbed me the wrong way: > Weird to see a western person dismiss the incredible priviledge he has and free speech rights and lack of obligations of serfdom/slavery suddenly take up the mantle of 'let the alpha males fix everything you stupid bureaucratic peons.' That is, categorically, the opposite of the way I feel. As I've already said, I'm not dreaming of King Jobs. I find it exciting/interesting that we're seeing a surge in the number of individuals with the means and the interest in doing great things.
- FD3SA 15y agoGovernments will not be able to stop a brilliant engineer from developing an unstoppable drone army. There will come a point where technology will allow such massive leverage to the talent that wields it that nations will literally be at the mercy of people like Elon Musk, should such people choose to exercise this power. Fortunately, with such massive intelligence comes the ability to look at the universe rationally. For example, people like Peter Thiel, Peter Diamandis and Elon Musk realize that at this point in time, aging and untimely death is our greatest enemy. The PayPal mafia and many other tech millionaires have thus committed to battling the scourge of aging, and invest heavily in rejuvenation technologies, instead of drones which fire undetectable ICBMS via rail guns. These "dictators" are benevolent due to their intelligence, not in spite of it. And as technology progresses, the traditional "alpha males" of the past (i.e. Qaddafi, Jong Il) will be at their mercy. And this will be good for all of us, as the aforementioned men are devoted only to pursuits which benefits themselves at the expense of others. Their Dark Triad traits will not survive open war with the sheer genius of the technocratic elite.
- iRobot 15y agoGovernments can and do stop innovation quite well all the time. The good thing here is that technically once off planet, you don't have any government to answer too, however I hate to think what regulations the bureaucrats are dreaming up to try and get around this.