https://medium.com/s/futurehuman/survival-of-the-richest-9ef6cddd0cc1
I read this article yesterday and was reminded of how likely it is that this all ends very badly.
Last year, I got invited to a super-deluxe private resort to deliver a keynote speech to what I assumed would be a hundred or so investment bankers.
... they were preparing for a digital future that had a whole lot less to do with making the world a better place than it did with transcending the human condition altogether and insulating themselves from a very real and present danger of climate change, rising sea levels, mass migrations, global pandemics, nativist panic, and resource depletion. For them, the future of technology is really about just one thing: escape.
Finally, the CEO of a brokerage house explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system and asked, “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the Event?”
There you have it. The richest among us are preparing for a massive purge and want to know how to stay alive and in charge through the carnage.
This single question occupied us for the rest of the hour. They knew armed guards would be required to protect their compounds from the angry mobs. But how would they pay the guards once money was worthless?
Food and shelter? Dumb question. The real question is how do you stop them from coming to consensus that you're a douchebag and are no longer in charge. This reminded me of cryptocurrency and blockchain, because crypto is all about reaching consensus and creating a currency that will be worth something. However, I will admit that things must be going pretty well during the post-apocalypse if you have time to rebuild the government and make a crypto.
The implied irony of this situation is palpable. The same people responsible for claiming that the environment is doing just fine are the same ones preparing for the end of the world as we know it. I guess a better word would be hypocrite, but it's all self preservation. We can't have the masses falling into a panic too soon before the rich get all their ducks in a row.
What would stop the guards from choosing their own leader? The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. Or maybe building robots to serve as guards and workers — if that technology could be developed in time.
The elite's answer has always been slaves, in one form or another.
It is a sad state of events that so many billionaires are completely undeserving of their money. I suppose they can't be blamed. Like the rest of us, they were brainwashed from birth into this system of corporate dog-eat-dog capitalism. It tracks that they would sooner use their money to save themselves over trying to fix the problems that we face. In my eyes, the blockchain and corresponding worldwide consensus may be the only thing stopping us from facing oblivion.
I used to think that a Purge was unavoidable. Too many people, too little cooperation, too much greed. Would it be such a bad thing; reducing the population from 7 billion to 1 billion or less? It would be hard to disagree if you removed your ego from the question. However, if enough of the world can come together and fork a new path, perhaps a completely new way of life can be forged.
It is obvious that the wealthiest among us are not going to be part of the solution. Who cares? They hold a bunch of paper. The antiquated SWIFT financial system says they have billions? Irrelevant. We can achieve consensus outside of their broken system. We can cut them out of power and give them the resources that they truly deserve given their contribution to society. This logic would apply to everyone equally.
I encourage you to read the article that I based this post off of. It's much better than mine.
Whatever you believe, humanity is in for a very strange adventure within the next decades. Every ten years that pass fortify the fact that technology advancement still continues to rage exponentially out of control. Things are going to get very chaotic if we don't find a way to come to consensus and reign it in.
Return from The Rich Are Preparing For Apocalypse to edicted's Web3 Blog
