"They float in a sensory-deprivation tank the size of the planet"

"He did not say “I’m so sorry.” He did not say “Do you need anything?” Instead, he made a face, and in an instant, an aide came and whisked him away. When presented with the opportunity for empathy, even performative empathy, he chose escape."

[edit] I see someone else already posted this reply, oh well. my Mastodon client not loading all the replies again

It's a given that the Have-Not's have a responsibility to the Haves. The Haves sadly have no responsibility to the Have-Not's or anyone else for that matter.

Based on my notifications it has hit home with quite a few people.

Daniel Plainsview

Absolutely disturbing.

This kind of wealth must be eliminated. They are a pox, worse than what the author experienced.

In the US it's been the fruits of a century long campaign that began during the curtailment of excess following the last great depression. It was not by accident that we've gotten here. The heirs of the industrial revolution got their wings clipped and now their great grandchildren are in league with petrol-oligarchs to stomp every ember of democracy out.

My answer, in short, is to destroy every vestage of carbon energy infrastructure as quickly as possible. Ideally replacing it with renewables, though not necessarily if unavoidable. Heroine withdrawal in order to avoid dieing in our sleep.

"Eight years later, Bezos and two of the world’s other richest men—Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk—have clearly left the world of consequences behind. They float in a sensory-deprivation tank the size of the planet, in which their actions are only ever judged by themselves."

Yeah, I believe it.

“And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.”

William Gibson, Count Zero. (1987)

Billionaires should not exist.