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> I'm more interested in whether Altman, and Musk, and Zuckerberg, and Bezos, and Ellison, and all the other amoral wealth-hoarders, are finally becoming obviou

> I'm more interested in whether Altman, and Musk, and Zuckerberg, and Bezos, and Ellison, and all the other amoral wealth-hoarders, are finally becoming obvious enough now that people might finally begin to see them as the yucky byproducts of a yucky system. One of them doesn't belong on the list. Fossil fuel and legacy automobile companies killed EVs[1][2], bought all the battery patents and made sure there were no EVs made. Until Tesla made them possible, by building gigafactories so battery is not a constraint and supercharger network. Why is the list restricted to only a few tech billionaires? Where are the fossil fuel billionaires who actively do harm? 10 million people die every year from air pollution, and fossil fuels are only possible because of $7 trillion subsidies/year. Why isn't Gates on the list?[3] Koch brothers? Hundreds of middle-eastern fossil fuel princes? Warren Buffett who owns Coke (39 grams of sugar/can) fast food chains, cookies, candy, ice cream companies, fossil fuel companies, utilities that actively lobby against solar/wind. Dan and Farris Wilks, Oil billionaires who are making policy changes on many issues? [4][5][6] Where are the financial billionaires, real estate, healthcare, insurance, fast fashion, chemicals? [1] A portion of the film details GM's efforts to demonstrate to California that there was no consumer demand for their product, and then to take back every EV1 and destroy them.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_automotive_NiMH_batteries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_encumbrance_of_large_au... [3] That's why Gates personally intervened to scuttle the Oxford team's plan to make its publicly funded vaccine research free to all, coercing them into doing an exclusive license deal with Astrazeneca: https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/21/wait-your-turn/ https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/21/wait-your-turn/ [4] https://www.facingsouth.org/2019/04/institute-index-texas-fracking-tycoon-funding-anti-abortion-extremism https://www.facingsouth.org/2019/04/institute-index-texas-fr... [5] https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/politics/texas-far-right-politics-invs/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/politics/texas-far-right-poli... [6] https://www.tpr.org/news/2024-02-25/three-west-texas-billionaires-are-pushing-texas-to-the-far-right https://www.tpr.org/news/2024-02-25/three-west-texas-billion...

bergen 2y ago
Musk profited of what he saw benefited him, yes he pushed forward EV technology and put other carmakers under pressure which is good. But he is an completely unhinged egomanic who has no respect for working people, even those working for him and often lies for his benefit, to workers, shareholders and reporters, this is documented hundreds of times
tarsinge 2y ago
You are missing the point I think. The problem with individuals in the initial list is they were presented as models. The point is they are not some forces of good as it was claimed they were (along Tech / SV culture). That you need to compare them to fossil fuel princes really highlights how low they have fallen.
deepvibrations 2y ago
Great post - annoys me that Gates, but especially Warren Buffet is never held to account, I have seen Coke and similar corporations have devastating consequences on small towns all over central/south America because local food is replaced with sugary-filled and processed foods, with advertising placed all over these small businesses, so uneducated families and kids grow up drinking coke straight after they stop breast feeding, very sad.

bergen 2y ago

Musk profited of what he saw benefited him, yes he pushed forward EV technology and put other carmakers under pressure which is good. But he is an completely unhinged egomanic who has no respect for working people, even those working for him and often lies for his benefit, to workers, shareholders and reporters, this is documented hundreds of times

tarsinge 2y ago

You are missing the point I think. The problem with individuals in the initial list is they were presented as models. The point is they are not some forces of good as it was claimed they were (along Tech / SV culture). That you need to compare them to fossil fuel princes really highlights how low they have fallen.

deepvibrations 2y ago

Great post - annoys me that Gates, but especially Warren Buffet is never held to account, I have seen Coke and similar corporations have devastating consequences on small towns all over central/south America because local food is replaced with sugary-filled and processed foods, with advertising placed all over these small businesses, so uneducated families and kids grow up drinking coke straight after they stop breast feeding, very sad.