Why are billionaires prepping for the apocalypse?

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.5 • 11.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean Illing talks with technologist, media theorist, and author Douglas Rushkoff, whose new book Survival of the Richest explains how the ultra-wealthy are obsessed with preparing for the end of the world — and the troubling mindset that leads many rich and powerful people down this road. They discuss the blend of tech utopianism and fatalism behind this doomsday prepping, how Silicon Valley and "tech bro" culture have incentivized a kind of misanthropy, and why the world's billionaire class can't see that the catastrophes they fear are of their own making. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Douglas Rushkoff (@rushkoff), author; professor, media studies, CUNY Queens College References: Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires by Douglas Rushkoff (W.W. Norton; 2022) "Epson boobytrapped its printers" by Cory Doctorow (Medium; Aug. 7) "Cosmism: Russia's religion for the rocket age" by Benjamin Ramm (BBC; Apr. 20, 2021) The Selfish Gene (1976) and The God Delusion (2006) by Richard Dawkins Francis Bacon, Redargutio Philosophiarum (1608), tr. by Benjamin Farrington in The Philosophy of Francis Bacon (1964): "Nature must be taken by the forelock . . . lay hold of her and capture her" (p. 130). "Power changes how the brain responds to others" by Jeremy Hogeveen, et al., Journal of Experiential Psychology (Apr. 2014) What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill (Basic Books; 2022) Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff (W.W. Norton; 2021) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Patrick Boyd Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:10.3	Slack helps companies stay flexible, accelerate projects and keep teams aligned.
0:15.4	So work just works.
0:17.4	How exactly?
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0:24.5	partnerships with Slack Connect.
0:26.5	However you work, Slack is the flexible digital HQ for organised and efficient teams, no matter
0:32.9	where they're logging in from.
0:34.6	Get started at slack.com slash DHQ.
0:38.3	Slack, where the future works.
0:46.6	Support for today's show comes from Slack.
0:49.1	A digital HQ in Slack brings your teams, partners and tools together in one space.
0:54.8	Slack helps companies stay flexible, accelerate projects and keep teams aligned.
0:59.9	So work just works.
1:01.9	How exactly?
1:03.7	Organised projects in channels work across time zones with huddles and clips and even streamline
1:09.0	partnerships with Slack Connect.
1:11.1	However you work, Slack is the flexible digital HQ for organised and efficient teams, no
1:17.1	matter where they're logging in from.
1:19.3	Get started at slack.com slash DHQ.
1:22.9	Slack, where the future works.
	...

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