this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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This is why, in my opinion, billionaires are incredibly stupid.
By hoarding wealth and forcing people to live paycheck-to-paycheck, with little-to-no time for self improvement or leisure. With few resources to devote towards education or career-building, you are strangling the pool of people who could make your life better. Who could find the cure for whatever illness finally gets you. Who could invent something you'd never have thought of that will improve your quality of life.
Before the pace of modern technology I can kind of get the impulse, but modern billionaires are operating on rules of 'how to win' from 100 years ago. They are -- by any metric -- not only socially backwards, but fundamentally stupid. They are too dumb to even get being greedy right.
... You just described a monopoly on wealth & prosperity.
Why wouldn't a billionaire want that for themself? They invest into what they like or grows their empire or prestige whether it's cancer drugs or dick shaped rockets.
It's the same logic as a dictator.
Because by limiting access to those resources, they can't be used in ways you wouldn't expect.
Sure, you might invest in cancer research. But did you back the right horse? Soon enough? What about the person who would have engineered earlier detection if they had gone to grad school, but the resources that could have been used to provide that are tied up in your net worth?
No concentrated approach will ever have the same results as letting millions of extra people work on their millions of ideas. The chances of someone hitting on something that sticks increase dramatically with the number of people throwing shit against the wall.
They don't care about abstract "maybe new science" when the reality is they have all the power and can do whatever the fuck they want
And not caring makes them kinda dumb and short-sighted in the big picture.
Please watch the cgp grey videos on the rules for rulers or read the Dictator's Handbook.
Sure, it's aimed towards political leaders, but it can be mapped on many billionaires as well.
It would give you an idea about how one who is at the top would likely respond.
I'll link it below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs
I've watched that before. It's not that I don't understand why it happens. It's that said playbook has obvious shortcomings in modern society that the up putting those in power in a worse condition.
I stand by my station my assertion that hording wealth to that degree is just stupid and short-sighted. It lowers the chances that advances the wealth holder would benefit from will happen in their lifetime.
This video on egotistic altruism covers it pretty well.
The more you give, the more your bowl will be plentiful.
Lemme be straight up:
We could be here for days on end arguing this, but its a pointless one given you are arguing what you feel they should do and how they're stupid, while im saying your opinion literally doesn't matter because they're going to do what they want anyways and are incentivized to do so.
We are both right, and no matter how you feel about it, it is what it is, unless you can form a collective to change it.
(also, the Dictator's Handbook is a acknowledgement of the constant pattern humans who take leadership follow, not a hyper strict rulebook you must pass in leadership class before you become el presidente)
Yeah I'm not saying they're going to change. I'm saying they're stupid.
Oh, and I just finished the video.
Ehh, he doesn't actually go into supply & demand or the actual economic incentives that led to these booms in quality od live (just says industrial revolution, doesn't reference influence politics or how countries want larger markets to dump their goods on) or addresses how to end the structural issues that hold us back from such a reality. He does acknowledge donations though, while refusing to acknowledge how much of it only enters dictator's pockets...
It's just yet another "imagine if the world was a better place for everyone" sermon which everybody & their dog loves to preach 🙄
Remember when wealthy people built universities, museums, and parks?
Not really. They're just trying to hire private scientists to find a cure for aging and live forever so they can continue their reign.
https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/bryan-johnson-tech-millionaire-reverse-ageing-b1083695.html