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Aaron Stewart-Ahn on why some elites imagine they are better off without the rest of us. @somebadideas/1391513370243780619
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This kind of belief system drives a number of technofantasies, including doomsday prepper compounds, transhumanist life extension, and space colonization as a luxury good.
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Sci-fi credit for thus concept goes to Cory @doctorow's take on the "zottarich" (i.e., runaway holders of unfathomable compounded wealth) in Walkaway.
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Taken on a larger scale, this is the story of elite secession and disinterest in public health. But these are all built on imagining that wealth is a possession, rather than a social relation.
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Being a "billionaire" is really just holding social currency that allows you to incentivize and coordinate the labor of hundreds of thousands of humans.
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Elites are products of social relations of domination, and therefore permanently vulnerable to revolt. If they dream of seceding from that relationship, it's because they've already fooled themselves.
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This is even more true when the crisis is global warming or a pandemic. There are no walls strong enough to permanently isolate from these threats.
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Hence we must solve them for all, as rapidly as possible.
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I'm not sure what fraction of capitalist elites are buying into secession vs. advocating massive largesse to resolve global crises, but until such fortunes are abolished, we should push and seduce them towards the latter option.


