Nonfiction

Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires

Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires

  • Downloads：6570
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2022-08-21 16:21:44
  • Update Date：2025-09-07
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Douglas Rushkoff
  • ISBN：0393881067
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Reviews

Ryo ，

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 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。 。。。more

Heather Jones ，

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 b 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。 。。。more

Kyle Horton ，

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。