As I was reading your very interesting article, I kept wondering about the power source. Everything needs a power source whether it be food, electricity, running water or something else. Then I imagined all these powerful men as immortal whatevers …floating brains, AI computers, etc., and then the cleaning lady coming along and accidentally unplugging them all. A happy if silly thought.
Imagine that, in order to attain the intelligence they are seeking, they will require access to to all of the diversity of thought that currently exists, and then quite a bit more. The longer it takes to get those perspectives as input, the longer it will take for the AI to process the data.
The more perspectives that are erased today, the less likely they are to wake to their dreams come true tomorrow.
Which goes back to their inherent white supremacy, a recurring problem with white ruling classes. Two centuries ago, it led to excessive inbreeding and all sorts of genetic diseases (real ones as opposed to RFK Jr's fake ones). This century, it's destroying their ability to create what they're after.
I’v been realizing for a while now that the billionaires are trying to create the Saturday morning cartoons and TV shows of their childhood.
In the 1950s it was Westerns. Wagon Train, Have Gun will Travel, Maverick, Rawhide, and on and on. All a nostalgic look back. But in the 1960s, when Bezos and the rest got up on Saturdays to watch cartoons, it moved to the Space Age and looking to the future. Sealab 2020, Jetsons, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, 2001, Star Trek, Space: 1999, and a host of other science/future shows.
As kids they were told that by 2000 there would be space stations and colonies on the moon and cities on the ocean floor and flying cars and …
And that’s what they’re trying to make.
They’re kids, trying to capture the dreams of their childhood. We all are, in many many ways. But they have the resources to actually try and, like all rich powerful men, a twisted belief that because they are rich and powerful, rules don’t apply to them.
Such an insightful comment! One that is echoed by my man Moviebob Chipman's thoughts on this crowd. To wit, his thesis is they're too much in love with the fictional science to bother fooling with the real thing. Consider Leon Muskrat's constant lying about Starship for proof.
About, oh, 7 or 8 years ago Jon Stewart did a piece on politicians and what era they point to as when things were “good” in America.
I forget the specific politicians but Politician X looked back to the ‘30s when Americans came together to weather the Depression. And Politician Y, who was about 10 years younger than X, looked back to the ‘40s when America came together to beat fascism. And Politician Z, about 10 years younger still, would talk of the ‘50s when everything was wholesome and Leave It to Beaver-ish.
Certainly some kids don’t have pleasant childhoods, but generally we all look back at the time when we had no responsibilities and parents to take care of us as better times. As adults we should recognize that as idealized nostalgia and move forward. Too many politicians and people in power want to regress to it.
I'm thinking along the same lines. Their grand scheme doesn't appear to take into account the complex global infrastructure on which everything in modern life, especially tech, depends on. The evangelists can dream about their Rapture on the basis that everything they believe will happen is magic and supernatural. But these tech bros. are quite explicit that their dream is all based on man-made technology. And when they find there's nobody left to make it or fix it for them ... ?
My bet is that they hope that with AI they will be able to design and mass manufacture robots that will replace human workers, "solving" that specific issue. Not sure if it will be totally possible, though, I just hope it's not....
I love this comparison of the Nerd Reich Tech Bro obsession with immorality (their end times) with Evangelical Christian Nationalists and the Rapture (their end times.) Brilliant.
There's this little thing they're kind of of ignoring called evolution. If one of the hominin species of our early ancestry had managed to crack eternal life, there would be no homo sapiens. Just a permanent planet of the apes. That's probably not a lot different from planet of the tech bros. 😳
The fact that Melon Husk built his AI supercomputer facility right next to Boxtown, TN, illustrates exactly what you outline in this writing. He has installed 37 generators to power the facility while waiting for the TVA to deliver power to the site. His generators are spewing toxins over the town without any attempt to mmitigate their impact on this locale that has been largely ignored by the state since the Civil War. He could spend his couch change to fix the situation but why bother. They are just poor black folks and he doesn’t give a shit. Besides, he lets Couchfuck McGee pick up the loose change after achieving 0rg@sm.
I grew up with those pre-millennial Evangelicals, Double O. So I can testify to the truth you're telling about comparing them to the Silicon Valley "immortals". Truth be told, regardless of public image, I think their lifestyles are ALREADY catching up to them. I say this because I can feel the bitterness of old men in too many of their actions.
And there's a problem with their vision: they're in too much of a hurry to properly R&D the tech. Think of the sloppiness of AI, the dreariness of the Metaverse and just anything tech associated with Leon Muskrat. If they can't get THAT to function right, no point in thinking they got better round the back.
Wealth, you'll recall, also plays a part in Scientology. I still think fondly of the game series, which is one long callout of their ways under the alias "Unitology".
If you're a caring, thinking human being, no it doesn't. If you are a drug-addled broligarch who is just discovering his mortality? Sounds like the greatest idea ever. Enough to make you forget your last several ideas were shit.
You can really tell the people who saw the Matrix or Terminator and saw it as an instruction manual instead of a warning 🤦♀️. They, like my daddy would say, have more money than sense.
Imma opt for greedy, delusional spoiled brat billionaires. Listen to any of that talk for ten minutes, especially Guru Curtis Yarvin and it becomes evident that none of them know very much about actual living.
How did the wealthiest people in the world develop so much resentment?
My thought: they have everything material that society says we should want. And they STILL feel hollow, empty, HUNGRY. That's a pretty good breeding ground for resentment right there.
I really believe that power (and specifically the kind of amorphous representation of power that money presents) causes illness and a cancerous expansion of one's ego.
I can't imagine how miserable and lonely it is to dedicate so much of one's life towards trying to prevent death, an inevitable threshold that gives life it's very meaning. The whole point is to live, idiot.
It’s a bit dated now (I think it was made in about 2018ish) but the BBC Radio series Intrigue had a season on this topic (available on BBC Sounds) - the upshot was that you could do a lot to slow aging, but only by not having a life!
I always thought that was the American Dream, that your kids and their kids have better lives than you. The idea that you may not benefit but others will. Or maybe I’m just crazy.
As I was reading your very interesting article, I kept wondering about the power source. Everything needs a power source whether it be food, electricity, running water or something else. Then I imagined all these powerful men as immortal whatevers …floating brains, AI computers, etc., and then the cleaning lady coming along and accidentally unplugging them all. A happy if silly thought.
Sure. "Accidentally."
I keep thinking about this too. If all that is left is AIs, they will run out of power eventually. Short sighted fucks.
But what if they try to automate the mantainance of said power, like with robots made and controlled with AI?
Imagine that, in order to attain the intelligence they are seeking, they will require access to to all of the diversity of thought that currently exists, and then quite a bit more. The longer it takes to get those perspectives as input, the longer it will take for the AI to process the data.
The more perspectives that are erased today, the less likely they are to wake to their dreams come true tomorrow.
Which goes back to their inherent white supremacy, a recurring problem with white ruling classes. Two centuries ago, it led to excessive inbreeding and all sorts of genetic diseases (real ones as opposed to RFK Jr's fake ones). This century, it's destroying their ability to create what they're after.
The antithesis to this way of thinking:
“We all do better when we all do better.”
—Paul Wellstone
Good point
I’v been realizing for a while now that the billionaires are trying to create the Saturday morning cartoons and TV shows of their childhood.
In the 1950s it was Westerns. Wagon Train, Have Gun will Travel, Maverick, Rawhide, and on and on. All a nostalgic look back. But in the 1960s, when Bezos and the rest got up on Saturdays to watch cartoons, it moved to the Space Age and looking to the future. Sealab 2020, Jetsons, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, 2001, Star Trek, Space: 1999, and a host of other science/future shows.
As kids they were told that by 2000 there would be space stations and colonies on the moon and cities on the ocean floor and flying cars and …
And that’s what they’re trying to make.
They’re kids, trying to capture the dreams of their childhood. We all are, in many many ways. But they have the resources to actually try and, like all rich powerful men, a twisted belief that because they are rich and powerful, rules don’t apply to them.
Such an insightful comment! One that is echoed by my man Moviebob Chipman's thoughts on this crowd. To wit, his thesis is they're too much in love with the fictional science to bother fooling with the real thing. Consider Leon Muskrat's constant lying about Starship for proof.
About, oh, 7 or 8 years ago Jon Stewart did a piece on politicians and what era they point to as when things were “good” in America.
I forget the specific politicians but Politician X looked back to the ‘30s when Americans came together to weather the Depression. And Politician Y, who was about 10 years younger than X, looked back to the ‘40s when America came together to beat fascism. And Politician Z, about 10 years younger still, would talk of the ‘50s when everything was wholesome and Leave It to Beaver-ish.
Certainly some kids don’t have pleasant childhoods, but generally we all look back at the time when we had no responsibilities and parents to take care of us as better times. As adults we should recognize that as idealized nostalgia and move forward. Too many politicians and people in power want to regress to it.
Too much for me from 9 until 18 was shit thanks to my junkie bio-father. Probably why I don't have those blinders.
Yeah, not everyone gets an idyllic (in their nostalgic memories) childhood.
Thanks for understanding. Not everybody does.
I'm thinking along the same lines. Their grand scheme doesn't appear to take into account the complex global infrastructure on which everything in modern life, especially tech, depends on. The evangelists can dream about their Rapture on the basis that everything they believe will happen is magic and supernatural. But these tech bros. are quite explicit that their dream is all based on man-made technology. And when they find there's nobody left to make it or fix it for them ... ?
My bet is that they hope that with AI they will be able to design and mass manufacture robots that will replace human workers, "solving" that specific issue. Not sure if it will be totally possible, though, I just hope it's not....
I love this comparison of the Nerd Reich Tech Bro obsession with immorality (their end times) with Evangelical Christian Nationalists and the Rapture (their end times.) Brilliant.
I know you probably meant to write ‘Immortality’ but immorality is so accurate here!
Anything but mutually exclusive, agreed.
And so true. In the end, both are just expressions of a recent video game title: Nobody Wants To Die. And yet they likely will.
There's this little thing they're kind of of ignoring called evolution. If one of the hominin species of our early ancestry had managed to crack eternal life, there would be no homo sapiens. Just a permanent planet of the apes. That's probably not a lot different from planet of the tech bros. 😳
The fact that Melon Husk built his AI supercomputer facility right next to Boxtown, TN, illustrates exactly what you outline in this writing. He has installed 37 generators to power the facility while waiting for the TVA to deliver power to the site. His generators are spewing toxins over the town without any attempt to mmitigate their impact on this locale that has been largely ignored by the state since the Civil War. He could spend his couch change to fix the situation but why bother. They are just poor black folks and he doesn’t give a shit. Besides, he lets Couchfuck McGee pick up the loose change after achieving 0rg@sm.
I grew up with those pre-millennial Evangelicals, Double O. So I can testify to the truth you're telling about comparing them to the Silicon Valley "immortals". Truth be told, regardless of public image, I think their lifestyles are ALREADY catching up to them. I say this because I can feel the bitterness of old men in too many of their actions.
And there's a problem with their vision: they're in too much of a hurry to properly R&D the tech. Think of the sloppiness of AI, the dreariness of the Metaverse and just anything tech associated with Leon Muskrat. If they can't get THAT to function right, no point in thinking they got better round the back.
It sounds as crazy as Scientology.
Because it is. Crazier if we're going to be honest.
💯 and more dangerous because of the wealth.
Wealth, you'll recall, also plays a part in Scientology. I still think fondly of the game series, which is one long callout of their ways under the alias "Unitology".
Which I still can't believe caught on!
Thanks for laying it all out, Justin. Ugh. None of this human-sacrifice-cult lunacy makes sense under the scrutiny of critical thinking.
If you're a caring, thinking human being, no it doesn't. If you are a drug-addled broligarch who is just discovering his mortality? Sounds like the greatest idea ever. Enough to make you forget your last several ideas were shit.
Let’s all pray that the current evil regime and its myriad members get raptured up real soon (and take their bag of dicks with them).
You can really tell the people who saw the Matrix or Terminator and saw it as an instruction manual instead of a warning 🤦♀️. They, like my daddy would say, have more money than sense.
Imma opt for greedy, delusional spoiled brat billionaires. Listen to any of that talk for ten minutes, especially Guru Curtis Yarvin and it becomes evident that none of them know very much about actual living.
How did the wealthiest people in the world develop so much resentment?
My thought: they have everything material that society says we should want. And they STILL feel hollow, empty, HUNGRY. That's a pretty good breeding ground for resentment right there.
Musk is having all those kids so that they alone can populate Mars. Aren't they all going to be inbred? Eww, that's nasty.
I really believe that power (and specifically the kind of amorphous representation of power that money presents) causes illness and a cancerous expansion of one's ego.
I can't imagine how miserable and lonely it is to dedicate so much of one's life towards trying to prevent death, an inevitable threshold that gives life it's very meaning. The whole point is to live, idiot.
If anyone in the comments is interested in further reading into these tech bro death cults, I highly recommend Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor's article on it and how the movement is deeply entangled with modern fascism: ( https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk )
It’s a bit dated now (I think it was made in about 2018ish) but the BBC Radio series Intrigue had a season on this topic (available on BBC Sounds) - the upshot was that you could do a lot to slow aging, but only by not having a life!
I always thought that was the American Dream, that your kids and their kids have better lives than you. The idea that you may not benefit but others will. Or maybe I’m just crazy.
For the broligarchs, this Jim Krueger line sums up where they are right now: "I thought I was the American Dream. And then I woke up."