Jeff Bozos 'I don't see how anybody can be discouraged who is alive right now'

[Hekate]

42. My favorite book about the billionaire class is Douglas Rushkoff's Survival of the Richest...

My favorite book about the billionaire class is Douglas Rushkoff's Survival of the Richest...
…Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires.

They fantasize they can escape the world they wrecked — by spaceships, or in bunkers on Earth with private armies and lots of technology. Rushkoff takes them seriously (as should we) but he writes in a style that exposes their batshittery and delusion as well, so I found it a fun read, and I recommend it to others.

The review at Amazon (ha! ) is:
Five mysterious billionaires summoned Douglas Rushkoff to a desert resort for a private talk. The subject? How to survive the "Event": the societal collapse they know is coming. Rushkoff argues that these men were under the influence of The Mindset, a Silicon Valley–style certainty that they and their cohort can escape a disaster of their own making―as long as they have enough money and the right technology.
Rushkoff traces the origins of The Mindset in science and technology through its current expression in missions to Mars, island bunkers, AI futurism, and the metaverse. Through fascinating characters―master programmers who want to remake the world as if redesigning a video game and bankers who return from Burning Man convinced incentivized capitalism will prevent environmental disasters―Rushkoff explains why those with the most power to change the world have no interest in doing so. He argues that the only way to survive the coming catastrophe is to ensure it doesn’t happen by rediscovering community, mutual aid, and human interdependency.