Survival of the Richest

The tech elite have a plan to survive the apocalypse: they want to leave us all behind. Five mysterious billionaires summoned Douglas Rushkoff to a desert resort for a private talk. The topic? How to survive ‘The Event’: the societal catastrophe they know is coming. Rushkoff came to understand that these men were under the influence of ‘The Mindset’, a Silicon Valley–style certainty that they can break the laws of physics, economics, and morality to escape a disaster of their own making — as long as they have enough money and the right technology. In Survival of the Richest , Rushkoff traces the origins of The Mindset in science and technology through its current expression in missions to Mars, island bunkers, and the Metaverse. This mind-blowing work of social analysis shows us how to transcend the landscape The Mindset created — a world alive with algorithms and intelligences actively rewarding our most selfish tendencies — and rediscover community, mutual aid, and human interdependency. Instead of changing the people, he argues, we can change the programme.