Courtesy of Wikipedia.org
For months, my blogs have closed with boycott calls for three companies: Tesla, Apple, and Amazon. The intent is to rein in the oligarchs who seek to weaken our democracy. I suspect a frog is more likely to sing opera at the Met than for me to succeed. Even so, a boycott would affirm our humanity and theirs.
Being plastic, the brain changes for those rich enough to buy almost anything on the planet. In time, yachts, Ferraris, and mansions no longer titillate. Ordinary people may seem dull to them as they imagine themselves to be brighter and more capable than everyone else.
Journalist Gil Duran exposes this dangerous mindset in his new book, The Nerd Reich. He explains the threat in an OPB interview. According to him, oligarchs believe democracy holds them back, and not only do they dream of its collapse, but plan to profit from it. Their world is a dystopian one where ordinary people have no right to vote, and where, according to one, unproductive individuals might be converted into fuel for city buses. “Just kidding,” the billionaire insisted, but who among ordinary folk is laughing?
Duran isn’t laughing either. Instead, he warns that these oligarchs are already using their money to turn their dreams into reality. Note the obscene amounts of cash they are throwing into the midterms in the hope of gaining control of Congress. They make no pretense of their ambition, nor do they hide their disdain for public opinion. They are convinced their wealth will protect them from the rising tide of disapproval.
Given their mindset, does anyone believe, on AI’s development, these individuals can “police themselves?” If someone does, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.
When Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, pulled the plug on foreign aid to starving children, we saw the depth of depravity possible. I doubt his mother would want to acknowledge him. The additional horror is that he’s found his match in the peddler of infamies, the President of the United States. Together, they have worked to destroy our system of justice and our democracy.
When Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, warned us to expect bad things to happen in AI’s development in exchange for good things, I heeded that warning. My concern is about “Who gets the bad things and who gets the good things?”
At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine wrote, “…we have it in our power to begin the world over again.” Oligarchs see the present in the same way. The difference between our Founding Fathers and them is that the latter are mad as hatters. If the country is to be saved, We the People must do it.
Which brings me to the boycott I call for at the end of each blog. I ask my readers to pick one company if not all. Start with Amazon. Yes, they make life easier for the consumer. But there is a cost. The first is for their workers. A report reveals Amazon employees receive poor wages and work in conditions that can end in death. The second cost is for We the People. When we feed the tiger, it grows strong, and one day, it will eat us.
BOYCOTTS: Tesla, Apple, Amazon
