Our society has officially turned into a Twilight Zone episode. Peter Thiel and his one percent, or one percent of one percent friends, are meeting together prolong their lives, they hope forever. They really believe it is possible to do this, all they need to do is to throw enough money at the scientists and the technologies will give them immortality. I have wondered why these people were not only viciously extracting as much money out of the rest of society as quickly as they could – like the character from the movie Wall Street asks how many boats can you water ski behind. And why they are not trying to give back to society – as a matter of fact they are trying to steal more by bankrupting our educational system. It becomes clear now they are living in a science fiction fantasy where they see themselves as uber people eventually becoming immortals who rule the earth. This is really, really scary stuff. It reminds me of a Twilight Zone. The morally desiccated rich beyond words businessman calls his friend to his apartment one night to meet scientists who will bring them eternal life.
Wrapping his long fingers together he whispers in the hoarse voice of a Beezlebub come to earth, “Eternal life is our friends if we just gather the money and have the will. We are the innovators, the job creators and we deserve this – as a matter of fact it is what is best for our species.” There are murmur of agreement from the dark characters in the room, Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg. “What we must do is focus on this new project,” Thiel continues. “It will take riches, but what are riches in comparison to immortality. We must take as we can from those who are less deserving than us. Those who did not create pages where people can tell each other what they had for breakfast or create applications for unsafe Gypsy car services. We were the ones who saw the opportunities took what we want, and left rubble behind. We are the chosen.”
“Yes,” they chant back, “the chosen. Where there is money we will take it. We will not shrink from our task.”
And this is real (well mostly). This really friggin’ happened - is happening. This is our society right now.
How would Rod Serling end this particular episode? Perhaps they achieve immortality, but in a hell that is littered with the ghosts of those they stepped across to achieve their wealth and then their immortality.