[ExI] A Nobel laureate and climate change

[Dan]

How do you know all this about the super-rich?
 
Unlike the others here, too, I don't think the world is in dire straits regarding energy -- at least, things are no more worse that at any other time in history. I'm shocked there's so little optimism here.
 
Regards,
 
Dan

From: BillK <pharos at gmail.com>
To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 1:31 PM
Subject: Re: [ExI] A Nobel laureate and climate change

2011/9/16 Tomasz Rola wrote:
<snip>
> ...but I don't buy this. If things go screwed, they are going to face
> hundred millions of very hungry people (the rest might be dead but
> a hundred mil is a problem anyway). And their servants will be the
> first who can easily pack them a bullet in a head from the back. If you
> look at the history of Rome, "barbarians" very rarely managed to kill an
> emperor. I assume they may be arsholes but not idiots. Therefore I expect
> them to do everything to turn our small boat away from a shite, if this is
> possible to do, of course.
>
>

I don't buy that story either.  :)

The super rich are money psychopaths (to a greater or lesser extent).

They are not survivalists, stocking up on guns and tins of food,
preparing for the end of the world.
Though they probably have hired a company (like Blackwater) to stock
their Caribbean island and defend it.
The rich don't expect total destruction around the world. They do
expect wars over resources and much starvation and die-off in
populations.

The USA already has about 20% of the population surviving on food
stamps. Even if that increases to 50% or 60%, the poor probably won't
attack the rich in their seaside mansions. The poor have entertainment
and food - they won't risk losing that in order to attack a few
thousand billionaires.

Eventually, more attention will go to developing new energy sources,
but the rich are only really concerned about the remainder of their
lifetime and they expect to continue business much as usual for that
period.

BillK
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