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Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires
The tech elite have a plan to survive the apocalypse: they want to leave us all behind.
Five mysterious billionaires summoned theorist Douglas Rushkoff to a desert resort for a private talk. The topic? How to survive the “Event”: the societal catastrophe they know is coming. Rushkoff came to understand that these men were under the influence of The Mindset, a Silicon Valley–style certainty that they and their cohort can break the laws of physics, economics, and morality to escape a disaster of their own making—as long as they have enough money and the right technology.
In Survival of the Richest, 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. In a dozen urgent, electrifying chapters, he confronts tech utopianism, the datafication of all human interaction, and the exploitation of that data by corporations. Through fascinating characters—master programmers who want to remake the world from scratch as if redesigning a video game and bankers who return from Burning Man convinced that incentivized capitalism is the solution to environmental disasters—Rushkoff explains why those with the most power to change our current trajectory have no interest in doing so. And he shows how recent forms of anti-mainstream rebellion—QAnon, for example, or meme stocks—reinforce the same destructive order.
This mind-blowing work of social analysis shows us how to transcend the landscape The Mindset created—a world alive with algorithms and intelligences actively rewarding our most selfish tendencies—and rediscover community, mutual aid, and human interdependency. In a thundering conclusion, Survival of the Richest argues that the only way to survive the coming catastrophe is to ensure it doesn’t happen in the first place.
Five mysterious billionaires summoned theorist Douglas Rushkoff to a desert resort for a private talk. The topic? How to survive the “Event”: the societal catastrophe they know is coming. Rushkoff came to understand that these men were under the influence of The Mindset, a Silicon Valley–style certainty that they and their cohort can break the laws of physics, economics, and morality to escape a disaster of their own making—as long as they have enough money and the right technology.
In Survival of the Richest, 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. In a dozen urgent, electrifying chapters, he confronts tech utopianism, the datafication of all human interaction, and the exploitation of that data by corporations. Through fascinating characters—master programmers who want to remake the world from scratch as if redesigning a video game and bankers who return from Burning Man convinced that incentivized capitalism is the solution to environmental disasters—Rushkoff explains why those with the most power to change our current trajectory have no interest in doing so. And he shows how recent forms of anti-mainstream rebellion—QAnon, for example, or meme stocks—reinforce the same destructive order.
This mind-blowing work of social analysis shows us how to transcend the landscape The Mindset created—a world alive with algorithms and intelligences actively rewarding our most selfish tendencies—and rediscover community, mutual aid, and human interdependency. In a thundering conclusion, Survival of the Richest argues that the only way to survive the coming catastrophe is to ensure it doesn’t happen in the first place.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published September 6, 2022
About the author
Douglas Rushkoff
117 books907 followersDouglas Rushkoff is a New York-based writer, columnist and lecturer on technology, media and popular culture.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 214 reviews
July 10, 2022
This book was fascinating and appalling. It's a close look at the psychology of tech billionaires, drawing the general conclusion that they are actively destroying human civilization because they believe that they'll be able to figure out a way to separate themselves from the rest of us when it all falls apart. Some insights in this. book were genuinely eye-opening to me. I don't feel like I closed the book with any ideas about ways to avert the apocalypse, but I do feel like when the world is burning, I'll at least have a good understanding of why. Strong recommend.
March 15, 2023
If you're familiar with Douglas Rushkoff (and I'd recommend the Team Human podcast very much), there isn't a lot of new information in his latest book. The main thing, as some recent headlines have shown, is the story of meeting tech billionaires who hope to survive the end of the world. Otherwise, this is a good summary of technology critiques from this important social writer.
There's also the chapter on Burning Man, showing how giving capitalists psychedelics doesn't really improve anything in the world when they can't escape the fundamentalist of their mindset. The part on Q-Anon and internet addiction is also very poignant. But overall, I'd recommend other of Rushkoff's older books. He's an important thinker, and I hope the world will further pay attention and think harder about what's not working in society. With a focus on humanity, perhaps we can do better.
There's also the chapter on Burning Man, showing how giving capitalists psychedelics doesn't really improve anything in the world when they can't escape the fundamentalist of their mindset. The part on Q-Anon and internet addiction is also very poignant. But overall, I'd recommend other of Rushkoff's older books. He's an important thinker, and I hope the world will further pay attention and think harder about what's not working in society. With a focus on humanity, perhaps we can do better.
April 21, 2024
I don't often quote scripture, but I've got to credit whoever wrote the first book of Timothy: the love of money truly is the root of all evil. When you have more money than you can ever use, continuing to make more and more while ruining the world seems more than a little evil to me.
This author is upfront right in the first chapter, letting the reader know that he is a Marxist, who was hired by a bunch of rich guys to help them make decisions about where to locate their doomsday bunkers and how to keep their security forces on their side after The Event (whatever that should turn out to be). Trying to improve the world around them didn't seem to compute—they were much more focused on leaving the rest of us outside their bunker walls.
The very wealthy seem to believe that money makes them somehow superior to regular people. They tend to be libertarian, wanting to go it alone with no responsibilities to other people or to society. I can understand the mindset to some extent: it is nice to have some independence in one's life. However, as much as they may believe they can separate themselves from the rest of humanity, one person simply cannot do all the things: mining, smelting, manufacturing, spinning, weaving, sewing, lumbering, building, mixing concrete, plumbing, electrifying, farming, etc. To get their bunkers built and supplied, they have already relied on a lot of other people. There is no such thing as complete independence. And, as we learned during Covid, being isolated doesn't benefit our mental health.
Then there are the weirdos who want to upload their consciousness to the cloud. I don't understand how this could be a good thing. I think it would be giving up all of the pleasures in life—eating, sleeping, having sex, even just walking in a forest or on a grassland. Smelling wet earth or your favourite food. Plus we would leave our brain structures behind and I doubt that we could feel emotions without those. I have zero desire to be stuck in some data bank somewhere unable to feel happiness, contentment, excitement or anticipation. I volunteer to stay behind to service the machines. When we get all the weirdos uploaded, let's just turn them off, shall we?
The biggest problem with the billionaires? They seem to believe that having billions makes them qualified to lead and that all solutions require technology. I hate to break it to the tech bros, but we already have what we need to make the world a better place. Try kindness and respect for others. Tone down our consumerist impulses and live simpler lives. I'm not anti-technology or I wouldn't be on Goodreads and other such websites, but I do try to limit my time on them.
The biggest problem that I see is a bunch of white men thinking that their interpretation of the world is the only one or the best one. Best for them maybe, but for those of us who want communities and meaningful lives, very unattractive. Unfortunately for them, the saying “Wherever you go, there you are” applies. No matter where they go, they take their essential human selves along. Humans are social primates so likely they won't go alone. There is no escaping humanity--it's built in. Resistance is futile.
This author is upfront right in the first chapter, letting the reader know that he is a Marxist, who was hired by a bunch of rich guys to help them make decisions about where to locate their doomsday bunkers and how to keep their security forces on their side after The Event (whatever that should turn out to be). Trying to improve the world around them didn't seem to compute—they were much more focused on leaving the rest of us outside their bunker walls.
The very wealthy seem to believe that money makes them somehow superior to regular people. They tend to be libertarian, wanting to go it alone with no responsibilities to other people or to society. I can understand the mindset to some extent: it is nice to have some independence in one's life. However, as much as they may believe they can separate themselves from the rest of humanity, one person simply cannot do all the things: mining, smelting, manufacturing, spinning, weaving, sewing, lumbering, building, mixing concrete, plumbing, electrifying, farming, etc. To get their bunkers built and supplied, they have already relied on a lot of other people. There is no such thing as complete independence. And, as we learned during Covid, being isolated doesn't benefit our mental health.
Then there are the weirdos who want to upload their consciousness to the cloud. I don't understand how this could be a good thing. I think it would be giving up all of the pleasures in life—eating, sleeping, having sex, even just walking in a forest or on a grassland. Smelling wet earth or your favourite food. Plus we would leave our brain structures behind and I doubt that we could feel emotions without those. I have zero desire to be stuck in some data bank somewhere unable to feel happiness, contentment, excitement or anticipation. I volunteer to stay behind to service the machines. When we get all the weirdos uploaded, let's just turn them off, shall we?
The biggest problem with the billionaires? They seem to believe that having billions makes them qualified to lead and that all solutions require technology. I hate to break it to the tech bros, but we already have what we need to make the world a better place. Try kindness and respect for others. Tone down our consumerist impulses and live simpler lives. I'm not anti-technology or I wouldn't be on Goodreads and other such websites, but I do try to limit my time on them.
The biggest problem that I see is a bunch of white men thinking that their interpretation of the world is the only one or the best one. Best for them maybe, but for those of us who want communities and meaningful lives, very unattractive. Unfortunately for them, the saying “Wherever you go, there you are” applies. No matter where they go, they take their essential human selves along. Humans are social primates so likely they won't go alone. There is no escaping humanity--it's built in. Resistance is futile.
January 11, 2024
There were a couple segments that felt entirely superfluous and sort of outside of the scope of what the book purported to offer but to be honest I was there for the dunking on billionaires (yes, I am a millennial and I think that dunking on Elongated Muskrat is a perfectly fine hobby) and to be comforted that they will, ultimately, not escape the environmental hellscape that we will be entering in great part thanks to them and that's pretty much what I got.
October 10, 2022
What would you think if a group of rich billionaires invited you to a remote location to get your opinions on the future? And how would you feel after you found out that what they really wanted to know was how to survive a coming global disaster that was of their own making? Where most of us would likely perish but they would be safely protected in their secure bunkers and islands!!??
This actually happened to the author of Survival of the Richest, Douglas Rushkoff, and it prompted him to write this book and dive deeper into how these tech billionaires and hedge fund managers got to that point. These people wanted to know if Alaska or New Zealand would be safer during a climate crisis, how many provisions they should stockpile, and how they could keep their security forces from turning on them if and when money starts losing its power.
Mr. Rushkoff is a writer and professor of media theory and digital economics at CUNY, and something of a futurist. He has written other best-selling books such as Team Human, Present Shock, and Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus. He has been a long-time critic of Silicon Valley and its influence on our lives, and this is one of his most blistering attacks on the mindset that prevails there.
I have heard of people like Peter Thiel constructing a compound in New Zealand for possible escapes, but apparently this is happening in the USA more and more, from the doomsday preppers in Idaho stockpiling guns and ammo to the Silicon Valley tech billionaires looking for escape sanctuaries in underground bunkers, on the ocean, and even in outer space. If we learned anything from the Covid-19 epidemic, it's that we are woefully prepared for any type of global crisis, especially if it requires us to stay home and isolate. Doomsday preparations are great for surviving maybe for a week, but after that nature and human nature start intruding into even the most elaborate plans.
Rushkoff likens the desire to escape from coming disasters, rather than prevent them in the first place, as a part of something he derogatorily names "The Mindset." This mindset is a powerful faith in technology's ability to overcome every challenge, regardless of any inconvenient externalities that might be produced as a byproduct. Externalities like poverty, climate change, pollution, diseases, and even death, are things to be feared and escaped from in large and safe cocoons, all financed by the billions that Silicon Valley has produced in the past decades.
He likens these illusions of safety as returning to the womb. The goal of big tech is to remove all threats, problems, and friction from the real world and return us to the wonderful safety of the womb, where all of our needs were not only taken care of, but anticipated ahead of time. Predictive algorithms are now supposed to look at past behavior and anticipate future behavior, making life as seamless and effortless as if we had 1,000 servants tending to our needs.
Many of the wealthiest got a taste of that womb during the Covid-19 epidemic, when they learned they could stay home in their pajamas and work from home while still earning handsome salaries and watching their stock portfolios skyrocket. Through home delivery services, streaming services, and virtual information bubbles that make sure they didn't see anything too disturbing, many found themselves in a bubble where "The Mindset" seemed to work just fine.
This illusion only worked because there was an army of Amazon drivers, farm workers, and regular people who went out and risked infection because they had no other choice. Those inside of the bubble never saw that side of it, and lost the ability to feel empathy for other people, especially for those less fortunate than them. The pandemic didn't seem so bad because the pajama class was insulated from it, experiencing only minor inconveniences while others risked their lives. Instead, the luckiest and wealthiest experienced something Rushkoff calls the "dumbwaiter effect", where the workers behind all of production are hidden down below and out of sight, as the magical dumbwaiter opens to reveal consequence-free meals.
This book goes far deeper than I anticipated. (I had expected a diatribe against tech titans only- this goes into their way of thinking, which is even better.) Rushkoff examines such things as:
- How capitalism's emphasis on mergers, growth, and payoffs relies on a system of extraction, exploitation, and relentless domination of people and nature.
- How people at the bottom are starting to rebel against this pressure to produce at any cost through quiet quitting in the US or tang ping (lying down) in China.
- Why going meta through things like financialization and digitization enables exponential growth while obscuring the reality that underlies it all. That's why the financial crisis of 2008 erupted when the bizarre instruments tied to mortgages turned out to be unsustainable based on the actual houses they represented.
- How the exponential growth of computers and everything else may be reaching natural limits, and desperate entrepreneurs are looking for game-changing moon shots to extend the illusion just a bit longer.
- How technology, behavior modification, gamification and marketing are used and abused to manipulate our buying behavior, voting, and online choices, making us little more than pawns in much bigger games devoted to "The Mindset".
- Why the "great reset" that's supposed to save us from climate change is mostly BS. Tech titans claim they have the answers, but they involve a lot of the same strategies that got us into this mess- extraction, profits, and eventual obsolescence of things like solar panels and wind turbines.
Two stories that struck me the hardest about how clueless the tech elites are involved two programs in Africa that appear to have backfired. The shipments of thousands of cheap laptops to African children, once believed to be a cure to poverty, was considered to be a spectacular failure by philanthropists because of its unrealistic expectations. And Bill Gates' shipments of mosquito nets to that continent to prevent malaria may have had the unpleasant byproduct of killing entire ponds of fish when Africans instead used the netting to try and catch fish with the chemical-laden nets. The hubris and cluelessness of those at the top comes not because they are bad people, but because they are sadly out of touch with the reality outside of their bubble. Their wealth and ego insulate them from the many problems that exist outside of their awareness.
In a way this is a depressing book because these leaders - political, business, and military, are the ones we are counting on to guide us into the future. Rushkoff paints a picture of people who are married to The Mindset and unable to think differently. The Mindset- a linear, straight, growth and progress-oriented drive is not something new. It's been the driving force of Western civilization for centuries and it may be reaching the limits of what it can accomplish. While it's given us microwave ovens, medical science, and unlimited entertainment choices, it's also given us climate change, opioid addiction, and staggering income inequality.
So what's the alternative? Rushkoff points to regenerative systems, things that work more in cycles than in straight lines. He states that eventually big tech can't solve everything, and we will need to simplify, slow down, and spend less. Business models will have to be more local and less global, and more cooperative and less hierarchical. It makes some sense, but I can't see how we get there any time soon. The Mindset is entrenched and powerful, but when faced with cataclysm, things could change rapidly. While the rich are hiding in their bunkers the rest of us that survive will be tasked with reinventing things, something that humans have proven very good at throughout history.
So rather than feel like we are all screwed, this is a hopeful book in that it's becoming apparent that even those at the top don't see this things as sustainable. I remain optimistic that the rest of us will figure things out before artificial intelligence (AI) takes over and enslaves us all. The human spirit is more powerful than any algorithm or mindset.
This actually happened to the author of Survival of the Richest, Douglas Rushkoff, and it prompted him to write this book and dive deeper into how these tech billionaires and hedge fund managers got to that point. These people wanted to know if Alaska or New Zealand would be safer during a climate crisis, how many provisions they should stockpile, and how they could keep their security forces from turning on them if and when money starts losing its power.
Mr. Rushkoff is a writer and professor of media theory and digital economics at CUNY, and something of a futurist. He has written other best-selling books such as Team Human, Present Shock, and Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus. He has been a long-time critic of Silicon Valley and its influence on our lives, and this is one of his most blistering attacks on the mindset that prevails there.
I have heard of people like Peter Thiel constructing a compound in New Zealand for possible escapes, but apparently this is happening in the USA more and more, from the doomsday preppers in Idaho stockpiling guns and ammo to the Silicon Valley tech billionaires looking for escape sanctuaries in underground bunkers, on the ocean, and even in outer space. If we learned anything from the Covid-19 epidemic, it's that we are woefully prepared for any type of global crisis, especially if it requires us to stay home and isolate. Doomsday preparations are great for surviving maybe for a week, but after that nature and human nature start intruding into even the most elaborate plans.
Rushkoff likens the desire to escape from coming disasters, rather than prevent them in the first place, as a part of something he derogatorily names "The Mindset." This mindset is a powerful faith in technology's ability to overcome every challenge, regardless of any inconvenient externalities that might be produced as a byproduct. Externalities like poverty, climate change, pollution, diseases, and even death, are things to be feared and escaped from in large and safe cocoons, all financed by the billions that Silicon Valley has produced in the past decades.
He likens these illusions of safety as returning to the womb. The goal of big tech is to remove all threats, problems, and friction from the real world and return us to the wonderful safety of the womb, where all of our needs were not only taken care of, but anticipated ahead of time. Predictive algorithms are now supposed to look at past behavior and anticipate future behavior, making life as seamless and effortless as if we had 1,000 servants tending to our needs.
Many of the wealthiest got a taste of that womb during the Covid-19 epidemic, when they learned they could stay home in their pajamas and work from home while still earning handsome salaries and watching their stock portfolios skyrocket. Through home delivery services, streaming services, and virtual information bubbles that make sure they didn't see anything too disturbing, many found themselves in a bubble where "The Mindset" seemed to work just fine.
This illusion only worked because there was an army of Amazon drivers, farm workers, and regular people who went out and risked infection because they had no other choice. Those inside of the bubble never saw that side of it, and lost the ability to feel empathy for other people, especially for those less fortunate than them. The pandemic didn't seem so bad because the pajama class was insulated from it, experiencing only minor inconveniences while others risked their lives. Instead, the luckiest and wealthiest experienced something Rushkoff calls the "dumbwaiter effect", where the workers behind all of production are hidden down below and out of sight, as the magical dumbwaiter opens to reveal consequence-free meals.
This book goes far deeper than I anticipated. (I had expected a diatribe against tech titans only- this goes into their way of thinking, which is even better.) Rushkoff examines such things as:
- How capitalism's emphasis on mergers, growth, and payoffs relies on a system of extraction, exploitation, and relentless domination of people and nature.
- How people at the bottom are starting to rebel against this pressure to produce at any cost through quiet quitting in the US or tang ping (lying down) in China.
- Why going meta through things like financialization and digitization enables exponential growth while obscuring the reality that underlies it all. That's why the financial crisis of 2008 erupted when the bizarre instruments tied to mortgages turned out to be unsustainable based on the actual houses they represented.
- How the exponential growth of computers and everything else may be reaching natural limits, and desperate entrepreneurs are looking for game-changing moon shots to extend the illusion just a bit longer.
- How technology, behavior modification, gamification and marketing are used and abused to manipulate our buying behavior, voting, and online choices, making us little more than pawns in much bigger games devoted to "The Mindset".
- Why the "great reset" that's supposed to save us from climate change is mostly BS. Tech titans claim they have the answers, but they involve a lot of the same strategies that got us into this mess- extraction, profits, and eventual obsolescence of things like solar panels and wind turbines.
Two stories that struck me the hardest about how clueless the tech elites are involved two programs in Africa that appear to have backfired. The shipments of thousands of cheap laptops to African children, once believed to be a cure to poverty, was considered to be a spectacular failure by philanthropists because of its unrealistic expectations. And Bill Gates' shipments of mosquito nets to that continent to prevent malaria may have had the unpleasant byproduct of killing entire ponds of fish when Africans instead used the netting to try and catch fish with the chemical-laden nets. The hubris and cluelessness of those at the top comes not because they are bad people, but because they are sadly out of touch with the reality outside of their bubble. Their wealth and ego insulate them from the many problems that exist outside of their awareness.
In a way this is a depressing book because these leaders - political, business, and military, are the ones we are counting on to guide us into the future. Rushkoff paints a picture of people who are married to The Mindset and unable to think differently. The Mindset- a linear, straight, growth and progress-oriented drive is not something new. It's been the driving force of Western civilization for centuries and it may be reaching the limits of what it can accomplish. While it's given us microwave ovens, medical science, and unlimited entertainment choices, it's also given us climate change, opioid addiction, and staggering income inequality.
So what's the alternative? Rushkoff points to regenerative systems, things that work more in cycles than in straight lines. He states that eventually big tech can't solve everything, and we will need to simplify, slow down, and spend less. Business models will have to be more local and less global, and more cooperative and less hierarchical. It makes some sense, but I can't see how we get there any time soon. The Mindset is entrenched and powerful, but when faced with cataclysm, things could change rapidly. While the rich are hiding in their bunkers the rest of us that survive will be tasked with reinventing things, something that humans have proven very good at throughout history.
So rather than feel like we are all screwed, this is a hopeful book in that it's becoming apparent that even those at the top don't see this things as sustainable. I remain optimistic that the rest of us will figure things out before artificial intelligence (AI) takes over and enslaves us all. The human spirit is more powerful than any algorithm or mindset.
October 23, 2022
This book is at its strongest in the earliest parts, but instead of going deeper on the escapist fantasies of tech elites, Rushkoff over-extends his analysis of “The Mindset” into a variety of topics that don’t quite cohere. It reads more like a series of columns than a book. He’s also painfully out of his depth on the issues I know most about: on the Green New Deal and climate politics, he asserts that GND advocates are all profoundly pro-economic-growth in ways that reveal their own captivity to the over-cited, under-explicated “Mindset.” Of course, most GND scholarship puts front and center the idea of communal low-carbon luxuries and public spaces; many GND advocates are open sympathizers of degrowth. Rushkoff also repeats anti-solar misinformation with minimal citation to make a hasty point about waste. If he’s so clearly misled and uninformed about a topic I’m very familiar with, it makes me not trust him on issues I know less well!
Overall, a ranging and shallow pop-politics book with a dash of (good) anti-silicon valley analysis.
Overall, a ranging and shallow pop-politics book with a dash of (good) anti-silicon valley analysis.
February 18, 2024
This helped me through a reading slump. The beginning chapters were most compelling but as this went on there was less about the actual escape plans the billionaires have thought up. I liked the rest but other than feeling like vignettes on interactions with some of these people whose takes are admittedly breathtaking and eye-roll-worthy, there wasn't much more depth (perhaps that's due to the subjects under discussion). Still, I am glad I read it and it was quite a page-turner. If nothing else, it made me think about how much less interacting I want to do with the products from which the tech bros extract their money.
So, I recommend this. If for no other reason than it is interesting to get a look in on these folks who while having amassed insane wealth, have their heads so far up their own rear ends and high on their own fumes that they can't see other humans or that they are themselves bound by finite existence. May fewer people hold them in worshipful awe and regard.
So, I recommend this. If for no other reason than it is interesting to get a look in on these folks who while having amassed insane wealth, have their heads so far up their own rear ends and high on their own fumes that they can't see other humans or that they are themselves bound by finite existence. May fewer people hold them in worshipful awe and regard.
October 11, 2022
The first 2 chapters are incredible, a must read. Unfortunately it falls off quickly after that.
As a taste, the author recounted an argument he had with Richard Dawkins over multiple pages, which he apparently lost. He concluded that Dawkins is blinded by sciencism and also was photographed on Epstein's private jet, thereby claiming the moral high-ground for himself. I'm not sure what the point of that was, or how it connects to the rest of the book.
I briskly skimmed the rest of this manifesto and donated it to the library. Hopefully someone else gets something out it.
As a taste, the author recounted an argument he had with Richard Dawkins over multiple pages, which he apparently lost. He concluded that Dawkins is blinded by sciencism and also was photographed on Epstein's private jet, thereby claiming the moral high-ground for himself. I'm not sure what the point of that was, or how it connects to the rest of the book.
I briskly skimmed the rest of this manifesto and donated it to the library. Hopefully someone else gets something out it.
October 21, 2023
Muy alejado de lo que sugiere el título, Douglas Rushkoff utiliza su experiencia personal en el mundo de la tecnología y la cultura digital para diseccionar la mentalidad de los grandes magnates de esta esfera; cartografiar su visión del mundo y los negocios y cómo les guía al tomar todo tipo de decisiones. Esta faceta es en muchos capítulos iluminadora y permite dar una base a las motivaciones detrás de decisiones muchas veces caprichosas para el común de los mortales, como lo que llevó a Mark Zuckerberg a convertir Facebook en Meta. Una búsqueda de nuevos campos por explotar en los que convertirse en dominante, huyendo de una competencia que se vislumbra como limitadora, un residuo del capitalismo a la antigua usanza.
Rushkoff se sirve de todo tipo de anécdotas para cimentar cada capítulo, bien como punto de partida (fui a una reunión con unos yuppies de Palo Alto en el que me cosieron a preguntas sobre cómo controlar a tu equipo de seguridad en el caso de que llegue el fin del mundo), bien como apoyo, y esto hace que el texto sea particularmente ágil. Siempre hay una vivencia extravagante con la cual sonreír, o un momento para descongestionar un capítulo que se está poniendo denso. Inevitablemente, en ocasiones se le ven las costuras. Particularmente cuando para sustentar sus ideas termina incluyendo observaciones para dar cera a quien sostiene posturas contrarias en frases más propias de un blog o un flame de twitter (queda un poco mal decir que Richard Dawkins viajó en el avión privado de Jefrey Epstein en el que está probado que hubo mucho sexo con jóvenes sin saber si fue su caso). Esto y que parte de los capítulos no queden tan fundamentados como otros hace que el libro coquetee con el libelo. No hasta el punto de caer en él pero sí lo suficiente como para enfangar un texto necesario. Porque si queremos descubrir los intrígulis detrás de tanto mogul desnortado que parece salido de una mala novela de ciencia ficción no tenemos tiempo de leernos uno tras otro los escritos de Walter Isaacson y otros biógrafos pop. Este libro permite acercarse al máximo común divisor de todos ellos de una manera ágil y razonable.
Por cierto, a ver si el equipo de Yolanda Díaz se lo lee y no se queda sólo en el título y la portada.
Rushkoff se sirve de todo tipo de anécdotas para cimentar cada capítulo, bien como punto de partida (fui a una reunión con unos yuppies de Palo Alto en el que me cosieron a preguntas sobre cómo controlar a tu equipo de seguridad en el caso de que llegue el fin del mundo), bien como apoyo, y esto hace que el texto sea particularmente ágil. Siempre hay una vivencia extravagante con la cual sonreír, o un momento para descongestionar un capítulo que se está poniendo denso. Inevitablemente, en ocasiones se le ven las costuras. Particularmente cuando para sustentar sus ideas termina incluyendo observaciones para dar cera a quien sostiene posturas contrarias en frases más propias de un blog o un flame de twitter (queda un poco mal decir que Richard Dawkins viajó en el avión privado de Jefrey Epstein en el que está probado que hubo mucho sexo con jóvenes sin saber si fue su caso). Esto y que parte de los capítulos no queden tan fundamentados como otros hace que el libro coquetee con el libelo. No hasta el punto de caer en él pero sí lo suficiente como para enfangar un texto necesario. Porque si queremos descubrir los intrígulis detrás de tanto mogul desnortado que parece salido de una mala novela de ciencia ficción no tenemos tiempo de leernos uno tras otro los escritos de Walter Isaacson y otros biógrafos pop. Este libro permite acercarse al máximo común divisor de todos ellos de una manera ágil y razonable.
Por cierto, a ver si el equipo de Yolanda Díaz se lo lee y no se queda sólo en el título y la portada.
October 3, 2022
Powerful and comprehensive Op-ed. Rushkoff sees the current world more clearly, I think, than many, many others.
October 30, 2023
Quizá Douglas Rushkoff se dedique a agasajar demasiado al lector describiendo a los superricos de una manera casi paródica, representándolos como gente presuntuosa y alejada del sentir del común de los mortales. Quizá también andaba sobrado de balas con las que tomar venganza de rencillas pasadas. Más de un personaje ilustre sale malparado en el libro. Pero aporta razones suficientes para agotar la confianza —si es que todavía quedaba alguna— en la creencia de que al frente del barco tecnológico tenemos a los más sensatos.
Las conclusiones son demoledoras. Y preocupantes. La mentalidad de esta élite tecnológica camina a través de la megalomanía, el egoísmo extremo y una ignorancia colosal sobre cualquier aspecto social. Y cada vez tienen más poder. Se centran en un capitalismo extremo, donde lo disruptivo, el cambio de paradigma o la ruptura con el pasado son elementos distintivos de sus propuestas de futuro, a pesar de que en ocasiones puedan tener buenas intenciones. No hay lugar para lo comunitario, para un desarrollo sostenible, para el decrecentismo. La sensación final es de que el porvenir nos lo jugamos a una tirada de dados. ¡Y el cubilete lo maneja algún tarado!
Otro punto a favor del libro es la facilidad del autor para trasladar al lector cuestiones bastante complejas de una forma amena y abreviada. Muy recomendable.
Las conclusiones son demoledoras. Y preocupantes. La mentalidad de esta élite tecnológica camina a través de la megalomanía, el egoísmo extremo y una ignorancia colosal sobre cualquier aspecto social. Y cada vez tienen más poder. Se centran en un capitalismo extremo, donde lo disruptivo, el cambio de paradigma o la ruptura con el pasado son elementos distintivos de sus propuestas de futuro, a pesar de que en ocasiones puedan tener buenas intenciones. No hay lugar para lo comunitario, para un desarrollo sostenible, para el decrecentismo. La sensación final es de que el porvenir nos lo jugamos a una tirada de dados. ¡Y el cubilete lo maneja algún tarado!
Otro punto a favor del libro es la facilidad del autor para trasladar al lector cuestiones bastante complejas de una forma amena y abreviada. Muy recomendable.
August 25, 2022
When billionaires want to be preppers, who do they call? Well, in the case of this book they call Douglas Rushkoff. They drove him to a remote area in the desert and sat at a round table asking him questions like “where is the safest place going to be when disaster happens?“ “Is Alaska or New Zealand going to be safer?“ as opposed to “what can we do to stop a disaster? “ this certainly got the author thinking about all the questions and more and that is where the book comes from. From million dollar farms that would help everyone to underground bunkers for individual families this book covers it all in modern interesting book it was. I didn’t even know billionaires were preppers and that they are actively looking for ways to save them and their families. This book is surprising and informative and most of all interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this book if you read this book in your mind isn’t blown then you’re for better informed than I am. My favorite chapter was on the aqua nation but all the chapters were very interesting. I received this book from NetGalleyShelf and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
December 3, 2023
Erste zwei Kapitel super. Danach leider das Buch verloren.
September 4, 2022
Something went horribly wrong with the Internet - this truth became more widely accepted in recent years, and resulted in a movement called Techlash. It is also a topic of a growing number of books, but among those ‘Survival of the Richest’ stands out. I can’t remember any other so eye-opening, so thought-provoking reading in years. The author has both unique access to main players in the big tech scene and an intellectual background that helps to give all that is happening now a deeper context.
If you’re trying to understand what the heck happened with our reality and what you can do to change its disastrous trajectory, it is an essential read. Highly recommended.
Thanks to the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
If you’re trying to understand what the heck happened with our reality and what you can do to change its disastrous trajectory, it is an essential read. Highly recommended.
Thanks to the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
December 20, 2022
Seems like a long uninformed rant after the first 2 chapters. A misnamed book that assumes every rich person is an as*hole because they are rich and that technological growth hasn’t done anything for the rest of the society (of course conveniently ignoring all the medical benefits that technology has brought and all the growth of the middle class in all emerging economies). The book is more a manifesto than an informative guide, and a very non coherent one at that.
I’m sure enough people would still like this, because enough people like hating on billionaires, but hoping for any real information on the life of at least some of the evil billionaires (as with any group of people, there has to be a spectrum) is a wasted opportunity here.
I’m sure enough people would still like this, because enough people like hating on billionaires, but hoping for any real information on the life of at least some of the evil billionaires (as with any group of people, there has to be a spectrum) is a wasted opportunity here.
January 3, 2023
Be warned-- this book has extremely little (<<1%) to do with HOW billionaire techbros might pursue apocalyptic survival (bunkers etc.)
>>99% is a reheated soup of marxism, cyberpunk nostaligia, and self-citation.
IF you came for the bunkers, there is more content in the single article below than in the book above:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018...
>>99% is a reheated soup of marxism, cyberpunk nostaligia, and self-citation.
IF you came for the bunkers, there is more content in the single article below than in the book above:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018...
August 22, 2023
Say what you will about the Unabomber, but that guy had courage of his convictions. He believed that modern technological society was destroying the earth and making mankind miserable, so he renounced it to live in a shack in the woods and spent his time mailing bombs to people to try to get his message out there (note: the last part is problematic).
Doug Rushkoff, on the other hand, while eager to condemn modern society in all of its failings, is also so thoroughly steeped in it that he doesn't even realize how idiotic he sounds. This is a guy who wants you to know that rich technocrats are ruining the world, but who will happily collect a paycheck from any rich technocrat who offers him one. I noticed at a certain point how Rushkoff's language describing these interactions is always very passive: he was "summoned" to speak at some billionaire boy's club; he was "offered the chance to comment" on somebody's business plan; what he can't quite bring himself to say is "I took their dirty money because I wanted to get paid, and I'm perfectly happy to buy into an awful system if it means I can send my kids to college." He's also happy to let you note all the times rich, important people have sought his counsel, so it's not a purely mercenary calculation: he's also a self-hating star fucker.
I must also note, for someone who has supposedly been thinking about these issues for his entire adult life, Rushkoff seems not to recognize some of the problems with his ideas. As one example: Rushkoff does not believe we can innovate or build our way out of a climate disaster. The only solution he acknowledges is "degrowth," which he never defines but which contextually seems to mean renouncing current western standards of living and discouraging their promulgation in the developing world. To me, the lay reader, that seems like something that will require you to change the minds of a lot of people who are invested in the current status quo. But Rushkoff also decries any kind of public relations or social engineering as unethical and ineffective--indeed, he claims any attempt at societal manipulation inevitably backfires as people recognize the manipulation and rebel against it (this ignores vast swathes of human history, but never mind). So, how, then, do we convince the bulk of the world's population to accept that they won't get McDonald's, Netflix, and air conditioning? Doug seems to think they'll reach this conclusion on their own given time and education, hopefully before the world burns down around his ears.
Honestly, this vies with "The Enigma of Room 622" for worst book of the summer. I need to burn some sage over my ereader before this goes any further.
Doug Rushkoff, on the other hand, while eager to condemn modern society in all of its failings, is also so thoroughly steeped in it that he doesn't even realize how idiotic he sounds. This is a guy who wants you to know that rich technocrats are ruining the world, but who will happily collect a paycheck from any rich technocrat who offers him one. I noticed at a certain point how Rushkoff's language describing these interactions is always very passive: he was "summoned" to speak at some billionaire boy's club; he was "offered the chance to comment" on somebody's business plan; what he can't quite bring himself to say is "I took their dirty money because I wanted to get paid, and I'm perfectly happy to buy into an awful system if it means I can send my kids to college." He's also happy to let you note all the times rich, important people have sought his counsel, so it's not a purely mercenary calculation: he's also a self-hating star fucker.
I must also note, for someone who has supposedly been thinking about these issues for his entire adult life, Rushkoff seems not to recognize some of the problems with his ideas. As one example: Rushkoff does not believe we can innovate or build our way out of a climate disaster. The only solution he acknowledges is "degrowth," which he never defines but which contextually seems to mean renouncing current western standards of living and discouraging their promulgation in the developing world. To me, the lay reader, that seems like something that will require you to change the minds of a lot of people who are invested in the current status quo. But Rushkoff also decries any kind of public relations or social engineering as unethical and ineffective--indeed, he claims any attempt at societal manipulation inevitably backfires as people recognize the manipulation and rebel against it (this ignores vast swathes of human history, but never mind). So, how, then, do we convince the bulk of the world's population to accept that they won't get McDonald's, Netflix, and air conditioning? Doug seems to think they'll reach this conclusion on their own given time and education, hopefully before the world burns down around his ears.
Honestly, this vies with "The Enigma of Room 622" for worst book of the summer. I need to burn some sage over my ereader before this goes any further.
January 13, 2023
I wish the entire book was as powerful as the first few chapters. I think my jaw was on the floor for the stories about ultra-rich escaping the world instead of driving toward solutions. After those very compelling stories the book takes a turn, and covers a grab bag of topics related to modern technology and wealth inequality. Even though I did enjoy the overall book, I am left wanting a sequel that really dives into that mindset of escaping over repairing/improving.
June 15, 2022
An interesting take on the current take on the current state of the world, espousing an ideology that is assigned neither to the political left nor right, but in some new direction. Perhaps upwards.
January 3, 2023
In this interesting and thought-provoking book, Rushkoff outlines for the reader several interactions with famously wealthy individuals who seem to seek some sort of post-apocalyptic existence. One thing that struck me was how he never talked about the inter-connectivity of the boards of directors of mega-corporations that link arms merchants, prison-industrial complex, pharmaceuticals companies, insurance companies, big agriculture and big oil (just to name a few). Really, he mainly focused on the billionaires like Musk, Bezos and their ilk. I came away with a distinct feeling that he left “old money” alone and focused on high-profile, “new money” billionaires.
Regardless, I picked up some interesting insights, and I will share two or three of them in this review. I have foresworn social media for some time. I never was on Facebook, ever, and I removed myself from Twitter in 2020. I never considered:
“When Facebook’s practices of data collection and user manipulation surfaced, I began to give a speech arguing that on these platforms, ‘We are not the users, we are the product.’ While catchy, it’s not quite true. We are not products of these platforms so much as the labor force. We dutifully read, click, post and retweet; we become enraged, scandalized, indignant; and we go on to complain, attack, or cancel. That’s work. The beneficiaries are shareholders.” (p. 32)
In what was to me an unsurprising revelation, he says, “. . . . research has suggested that after people have gained power, they tend to behave like patients with damage to their orbito-frontal lobes. That is, the experience of wealth and power is akin to removing the part of the brain “critical to empathy and socially appropriate behavior.” (p. 34)
This is an important book because it lays out the problems faced by the world. He pays attention to the fact that, by allowing society to grow and develop as if there are people we can afford to discard, like refuse, we are actually causing even greater problems; that by continuing to feed into the lie of the capacity for exponential economic growth, what we are really doing is making the ultra-rich even more rich at the expense of ourselves and humanity. What is missing is a realistic, concrete set of ideas of sufficient complexity to address this problem.
Still, it was a worthy read and another reader who I respect gave it one more star than I did, so perhaps you will find that star if you read this book.
Regardless, I picked up some interesting insights, and I will share two or three of them in this review. I have foresworn social media for some time. I never was on Facebook, ever, and I removed myself from Twitter in 2020. I never considered:
“When Facebook’s practices of data collection and user manipulation surfaced, I began to give a speech arguing that on these platforms, ‘We are not the users, we are the product.’ While catchy, it’s not quite true. We are not products of these platforms so much as the labor force. We dutifully read, click, post and retweet; we become enraged, scandalized, indignant; and we go on to complain, attack, or cancel. That’s work. The beneficiaries are shareholders.” (p. 32)
In what was to me an unsurprising revelation, he says, “. . . . research has suggested that after people have gained power, they tend to behave like patients with damage to their orbito-frontal lobes. That is, the experience of wealth and power is akin to removing the part of the brain “critical to empathy and socially appropriate behavior.” (p. 34)
This is an important book because it lays out the problems faced by the world. He pays attention to the fact that, by allowing society to grow and develop as if there are people we can afford to discard, like refuse, we are actually causing even greater problems; that by continuing to feed into the lie of the capacity for exponential economic growth, what we are really doing is making the ultra-rich even more rich at the expense of ourselves and humanity. What is missing is a realistic, concrete set of ideas of sufficient complexity to address this problem.
Still, it was a worthy read and another reader who I respect gave it one more star than I did, so perhaps you will find that star if you read this book.
January 16, 2023
This is a much-needed critique of the technocrat corporate elite and the mindset that's been established in our culture which praises the rich as grand saviors of a declining world of their own making, as well as role models for the young.
Rushkoff starts with the basic premise of a group of tech billionaires looking for a way out of the inevitable apocalypse caused by the exploitation of the planet's resources for the neverending accumulation of wealth and moves along by explaining the origins and effects of the mindset that has driven them into the conclusion that not only is the world doomed but that the wealthiest people on Earth deserve to transcend it.
I might be too underinformed to opine on the author's arguments, but they do withstand the basic tests of logic.
Rushkoff starts with the basic premise of a group of tech billionaires looking for a way out of the inevitable apocalypse caused by the exploitation of the planet's resources for the neverending accumulation of wealth and moves along by explaining the origins and effects of the mindset that has driven them into the conclusion that not only is the world doomed but that the wealthiest people on Earth deserve to transcend it.
I might be too underinformed to opine on the author's arguments, but they do withstand the basic tests of logic.
April 22, 2023
So this book pretty much blew my mind. My worst suspicions about the uber-elite were confirmed and things I thought were a pretty good idea before I don’t now. Overall I finished the book feeling hopeful, and that even within my small sphere of influence I could make changes that matter. Really excellent, accessible book.
Read
October 27, 2022This is an ambitious little book.
I was compelled by Douglas Rushkoff's emphasis on the dignity of the human person. While he veers away at times from the Catholic understanding of what that truly means, especially when he mentions subjects such as gender and abortion, I agree with the big picture. Our economic system is not centered around the dignity of the human person and is on a path farther and farther away from it. Working in tech, I observe "The Mindset" in a very visceral way. We are all a part of the same hypocrisy, I guess...
Equally fascinating was Rushkoff's positive portrayal of aspects of the Medieval system. He sees the Enlightenment in a very objective light.
Some readers detect hints of ad hominems in here. I can see that. But for the most part, I think Rushkoff's perspective is sound. I see in Rushkoff's writing echos of what I've read of St. John Paul II's and Benedict XVI's commentary on the role of technology in the modern world. Pope Francis is quoted directly at some point.
While a Roman Catholic ought never to embrace Marxism in its totality, we can certainly borrow those thoughts which are compatible with the faith and drive towards a more Christian society. I am reminded of a talk that I attended where the guest speaker suggested that Christians shed the weight of the "liberal narrative." We must question the Enlightenment ideals that have become so enmeshed in our thinking and hinder us from following Christ's message. The lure of the rags-to-riches (or garage-to-transcontinental-mega-corporation) promise is not Christ oriented. It is folly as a Christian to pretend that it is and to attempt to justify this as a healthy social narrative.
What comes next? How do we reconcile virtue and spritual poverty to the world we've made for ourselves since the fall of Christendom all while respecting the dignity of work and avoiding all-out Marxism? Who knows. But we must get these conversations started. Rushkoff's perspective is invaluable in this sense. A values shift needs to occur. We must enshrine virtue once again.
Bottomline is a society that throws out virtue goes down the drain.
Now, Rushkoff talks about religion with suspicion. He views it as a vestige of a male-dominated world - as a part of the problem. However, I picked up an underlying spiritual suggestion, so there is some ambiguity there.
If anything, this book affirms the apostolic mission of the Church. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.
I was compelled by Douglas Rushkoff's emphasis on the dignity of the human person. While he veers away at times from the Catholic understanding of what that truly means, especially when he mentions subjects such as gender and abortion, I agree with the big picture. Our economic system is not centered around the dignity of the human person and is on a path farther and farther away from it. Working in tech, I observe "The Mindset" in a very visceral way. We are all a part of the same hypocrisy, I guess...
Equally fascinating was Rushkoff's positive portrayal of aspects of the Medieval system. He sees the Enlightenment in a very objective light.
Some readers detect hints of ad hominems in here. I can see that. But for the most part, I think Rushkoff's perspective is sound. I see in Rushkoff's writing echos of what I've read of St. John Paul II's and Benedict XVI's commentary on the role of technology in the modern world. Pope Francis is quoted directly at some point.
While a Roman Catholic ought never to embrace Marxism in its totality, we can certainly borrow those thoughts which are compatible with the faith and drive towards a more Christian society. I am reminded of a talk that I attended where the guest speaker suggested that Christians shed the weight of the "liberal narrative." We must question the Enlightenment ideals that have become so enmeshed in our thinking and hinder us from following Christ's message. The lure of the rags-to-riches (or garage-to-transcontinental-mega-corporation) promise is not Christ oriented. It is folly as a Christian to pretend that it is and to attempt to justify this as a healthy social narrative.
What comes next? How do we reconcile virtue and spritual poverty to the world we've made for ourselves since the fall of Christendom all while respecting the dignity of work and avoiding all-out Marxism? Who knows. But we must get these conversations started. Rushkoff's perspective is invaluable in this sense. A values shift needs to occur. We must enshrine virtue once again.
Bottomline is a society that throws out virtue goes down the drain.
Now, Rushkoff talks about religion with suspicion. He views it as a vestige of a male-dominated world - as a part of the problem. However, I picked up an underlying spiritual suggestion, so there is some ambiguity there.
If anything, this book affirms the apostolic mission of the Church. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.
November 2, 2022
Not super cohesive, each chapter felt like a different op-ed. Still liked it, though. 3.5 rounded up
December 1, 2022
This was a phenomenal read that I was very, very stupid to listen to on audiobook. It's so packed with thought provoking content about our relationship -- or rather, the relationship of rich wannabe technocrats -- with technology. I was expecting rich doomsday preppers plotting for bunkers, but Douglas Rushkoff takes the reader through so much more than that. While this book does touch on said doomsday bunkers, it also goes into many other forms and facets of technological escapism -- the building of "self sustainable" technological cities, individualist space colonialism, the threat of AI, and -- Burning Man?!
It's a fascinating and thought provoking read. I think if I had read this in print it would have been packed with sticky notes and covered in writing. I might even pick up a copy. I think this should be required reading for those interested in sustainability and technology.
It's a fascinating and thought provoking read. I think if I had read this in print it would have been packed with sticky notes and covered in writing. I might even pick up a copy. I think this should be required reading for those interested in sustainability and technology.
July 17, 2022
I received a copy of this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.
The book opens with a story about the author's invitation to a remote resort in the middle of nowhere, where he meets five super-rich men who want his thoughts on how to survive the end of the world. This sets up his description of "The Mindset," where the rich and powerful, mostly in Silicon Valley, think that they can escape reality and change the rules with technology and money. The book is certainly great at highlighting some of the horrifying and dehumanizing aspects of big tech companies, and it also goes into how some of these ideas have been present even before the big tech revolution, ever since capitalistic systems have been in place. On the whole, though, this book felt unbalanced. The author certainly describes his cynicism and disdain for the wealthy tech elites very strongly and in great detail, but that makes up the bulk of this book. There's very little space devoted to solutions or pointers to the experts we should be listening to instead of the technology experts and billionaires. There's some vague promotion of more community and compassion, more iteration and reuse over radical innovation, but not much that's concrete in terms of who to turn to (besides the author himself). There were some parts that were flat-out contradictory; one example that stuck out was in a chapter where the author criticizes TED talks, where he says, "Fix it. Hack it. Reboot it. Develop it. Scale it. Automate it. As if doing less, or even doing nothing, were not an option." But then immediately after that, he says, "Repairing what we have, scaling back, or even seeking incremental progress doesn't make for an exciting podcast, online panel, or TED Talk." But isn't "repairing what we have" equivalent to "fix it"? "Scaling back" can be "reboot it," and "seeking incremental progress" can just be "develop it." The contrast he's setting up isn't really a contrast. The author makes a lot of good points, and his cynicism of the wealthy elite in the tech industry certainly seems warranted, but I wish he had included more alternatives and solutions to the problems, instead of focusing so much on taking shots at people and institutions he believes are steering us in the wrong direction.
The book opens with a story about the author's invitation to a remote resort in the middle of nowhere, where he meets five super-rich men who want his thoughts on how to survive the end of the world. This sets up his description of "The Mindset," where the rich and powerful, mostly in Silicon Valley, think that they can escape reality and change the rules with technology and money. The book is certainly great at highlighting some of the horrifying and dehumanizing aspects of big tech companies, and it also goes into how some of these ideas have been present even before the big tech revolution, ever since capitalistic systems have been in place. On the whole, though, this book felt unbalanced. The author certainly describes his cynicism and disdain for the wealthy tech elites very strongly and in great detail, but that makes up the bulk of this book. There's very little space devoted to solutions or pointers to the experts we should be listening to instead of the technology experts and billionaires. There's some vague promotion of more community and compassion, more iteration and reuse over radical innovation, but not much that's concrete in terms of who to turn to (besides the author himself). There were some parts that were flat-out contradictory; one example that stuck out was in a chapter where the author criticizes TED talks, where he says, "Fix it. Hack it. Reboot it. Develop it. Scale it. Automate it. As if doing less, or even doing nothing, were not an option." But then immediately after that, he says, "Repairing what we have, scaling back, or even seeking incremental progress doesn't make for an exciting podcast, online panel, or TED Talk." But isn't "repairing what we have" equivalent to "fix it"? "Scaling back" can be "reboot it," and "seeking incremental progress" can just be "develop it." The contrast he's setting up isn't really a contrast. The author makes a lot of good points, and his cynicism of the wealthy elite in the tech industry certainly seems warranted, but I wish he had included more alternatives and solutions to the problems, instead of focusing so much on taking shots at people and institutions he believes are steering us in the wrong direction.
March 21, 2023
Escape fantasies of the tech billionaires is a very misleading title. Aside from one, maybe two anecdotes in the book, it just sits there as an unfulfilled promise as the author instead pivots to what he refers to as the Mindset, which can be quickly summed up as techno libertarianism, no breakthrough here.
Rushkoff then spends the rest of the book on that and takes potshots at his peers.
Which is a shame, because I find the original topic fascinating, and there is so much he could of done with that, especially in regard to his opening argument, can you spend your way out of the problems your pursuit of profits have created?
Just off the top of my head, what’s the fundamental difference between the redneck with a dugout full of guns and a millionaire with his own private island? How did the rich retreat during Covid? I remember the articles of minor entitled figures getting busted for not quarantining as they jetted about on private planes, so can the rules apply to the rich in a disaster scenario? What does climate change look like to people with gigantic yachts to retreat to? Are they actively trying to accelerate the Event ala the Peripheral? (He touches on this far too briefly) What type of Event are they preparing for and what if it happens slowly, will we signs of their retreat? What about all the questions the millionaires had about their security?
Rushkoff may claim that these are all beside the point, and undoing the Mindset that allows these people to validate these questions is more important, but I think his rambling tour of conferences, old arguments with his peers, and the odd allusion to Peter Thiel’s New Zealand ventures (what is he doing there? It’s never explained) doesn’t really serve the point either.
All in all I think he should of attempted some interviews with some of these tech bro millionaires. I’m not asking for a tour of the bunker like Lifestyles of the rich and famous, but still, showcasing the extent they are willing to sacrifice the rest of us would have been more impactful than his experiences with the Mindset (again, just techno libertarianism)
Rushkoff then spends the rest of the book on that and takes potshots at his peers.
Which is a shame, because I find the original topic fascinating, and there is so much he could of done with that, especially in regard to his opening argument, can you spend your way out of the problems your pursuit of profits have created?
Just off the top of my head, what’s the fundamental difference between the redneck with a dugout full of guns and a millionaire with his own private island? How did the rich retreat during Covid? I remember the articles of minor entitled figures getting busted for not quarantining as they jetted about on private planes, so can the rules apply to the rich in a disaster scenario? What does climate change look like to people with gigantic yachts to retreat to? Are they actively trying to accelerate the Event ala the Peripheral? (He touches on this far too briefly) What type of Event are they preparing for and what if it happens slowly, will we signs of their retreat? What about all the questions the millionaires had about their security?
Rushkoff may claim that these are all beside the point, and undoing the Mindset that allows these people to validate these questions is more important, but I think his rambling tour of conferences, old arguments with his peers, and the odd allusion to Peter Thiel’s New Zealand ventures (what is he doing there? It’s never explained) doesn’t really serve the point either.
All in all I think he should of attempted some interviews with some of these tech bro millionaires. I’m not asking for a tour of the bunker like Lifestyles of the rich and famous, but still, showcasing the extent they are willing to sacrifice the rest of us would have been more impactful than his experiences with the Mindset (again, just techno libertarianism)
September 18, 2022
Seems pretty scattered. It really has a terrible title. The point of the book is less about how the rich plan to escape the world and more a study in how the wealthy interact with the world, how they view the climate, government and “the crowd”. It has a good bit of insights. Topics ranging from climate change, to big agriculture, HR relations, propaganda, technopoly, and AI. He generally blames everything on rich libertarians and his Marxist ideology shines through in irritating brightness at points.
Some of his points were quite interesting. Talked about how the rich are preparing for the apocalypse by building bunkers and hiring SEALS for security. But in that discussion he mentions how we, as a society, basically did the same thing in the COVID “apocalypse”. Many people held out in their makeshift “bunkers” waiting for the “apocalypse” to run its course. There’s always going to be the people who give up and hide during a problem while others try to fix it. We’ve peddled this Global warming for long enough that we shouldn’t be surprised that some have turned to despair and survival.
Another interesting point he brought up was how the crowd gets angry and restless in trial and seeks a scapegoat, referring to Girards works. The elites try to manage the crowd to avoid becoming the scapegoat, but the management of the crowd is what incenses it even more.
He also discussed how fake news isn’t a cult or willful ignorance or deception necessarily. We get our little dopamine hits from various news headlines and become “addicted” to it. This being the result of behavioral studies and tech targeting those stimuli.
Some of his points were quite interesting. Talked about how the rich are preparing for the apocalypse by building bunkers and hiring SEALS for security. But in that discussion he mentions how we, as a society, basically did the same thing in the COVID “apocalypse”. Many people held out in their makeshift “bunkers” waiting for the “apocalypse” to run its course. There’s always going to be the people who give up and hide during a problem while others try to fix it. We’ve peddled this Global warming for long enough that we shouldn’t be surprised that some have turned to despair and survival.
Another interesting point he brought up was how the crowd gets angry and restless in trial and seeks a scapegoat, referring to Girards works. The elites try to manage the crowd to avoid becoming the scapegoat, but the management of the crowd is what incenses it even more.
He also discussed how fake news isn’t a cult or willful ignorance or deception necessarily. We get our little dopamine hits from various news headlines and become “addicted” to it. This being the result of behavioral studies and tech targeting those stimuli.
September 22, 2022
Rushkoff is a skilled thinker and a nice person, but this book just didn't gel for me, I think perhaps in part due to the way the book has tended to be marketed in some sectors (and the cover itself). While the book's prose is well-written and its critiques are largely very much valid, I felt like I've just seen a lot of these criticisms of the Silicon Valley technolibertarian mindset elsewhere, and the book didn't feel especially fresh or memorable to me.
Very pleasant narration by Rushkoff in the audiobook version.
Very pleasant narration by Rushkoff in the audiobook version.
February 12, 2023
I loved Team Human, so I looked forward to Rushkoff's book taking down the technocrats and it didn't disappoint.
Chilling and eye-opening, it read like a trashy tell-all, but the juicy tidbits weren't sensationalized--they were real and beyond disturbing.
The only reason I didn't give it 5-stars was that some of his biases came through as he examined some of the younger tech folks who grew a conscience and have been trying to change the way we use tech--or rather have been trying to alert us that tech is actually using us. Working within a system is the only way to take it down, or so I'm told, so I'm not sure why it's hypocritical that some of these guys to still own stock in tech companies, and other things that, taken out of context, might have been painted with too broad a brush. During that particular chapter, it felt like every sentence could have been concluded with "...the little shits."
But that's okay. I get Rushkoff's frustration, I get the incredulity. I've watched people in my age group turn into social media addicts, and our society isn't quite ready to call it what it is yet. I've watched younger people sit and scroll for hours, during a movie, during dinner, and wonder when their imagination ever gets to roam free, and if the answer is what I think it is, we really are in trouble.
I've always wanted to believe humanity would "right itself" whenever we went too far one way or another, but how to do that when we've all been hypnotized by the technologies meant to "enhance" our human experience? How could we have known that the government acts on the authority of the wealthy and that absolute power and unlimited greed were bad things?
Yes. That's sarcasm, and no, there's no emoji for it. Read a history book. Read this book. Knock yourselves out.
Chilling and eye-opening, it read like a trashy tell-all, but the juicy tidbits weren't sensationalized--they were real and beyond disturbing.
The only reason I didn't give it 5-stars was that some of his biases came through as he examined some of the younger tech folks who grew a conscience and have been trying to change the way we use tech--or rather have been trying to alert us that tech is actually using us. Working within a system is the only way to take it down, or so I'm told, so I'm not sure why it's hypocritical that some of these guys to still own stock in tech companies, and other things that, taken out of context, might have been painted with too broad a brush. During that particular chapter, it felt like every sentence could have been concluded with "...the little shits."
But that's okay. I get Rushkoff's frustration, I get the incredulity. I've watched people in my age group turn into social media addicts, and our society isn't quite ready to call it what it is yet. I've watched younger people sit and scroll for hours, during a movie, during dinner, and wonder when their imagination ever gets to roam free, and if the answer is what I think it is, we really are in trouble.
I've always wanted to believe humanity would "right itself" whenever we went too far one way or another, but how to do that when we've all been hypnotized by the technologies meant to "enhance" our human experience? How could we have known that the government acts on the authority of the wealthy and that absolute power and unlimited greed were bad things?
Yes. That's sarcasm, and no, there's no emoji for it. Read a history book. Read this book. Knock yourselves out.
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