[mypastself]

The article was removed from the website after the uproar, 4chan crazies or not. It’s preserved here:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/worldeconomicforum/2016/11/10/s...

The author later clarified they were predicting a possible future, “for better or for worse”. They didn’t outright deny they supported that specific idea, though, nor does it directly contradict WEF’s stated goals (although it’s on a much shorter timeline).

[ZeroGravitas]

So the secret conspiracy is clean energy, self-driving taxis, protected environment, and more leisure time due to increased automation?

And when intentionally publishing the plan for this secret conspiracy, on their website, cunningly disguised as a fictional take on the near future, they accidentally left in bits where they worried about digital surveillance which luckly the anti-semites on 4Chan noticed, and saved us from this dark future?

> Once in a while I get annoyed about the fact that I have no real privacy. Nowhere I can go and not be registered. I know that, somewhere, everything I do, think and dream of is recorded. I just hope that nobody will use it against me.

[california2077]

>So the secret conspiracy is clean energy, self-driving taxis, protected environment, and more leisure time due to increased automation?

I agree. It's completely idiotic. Clearly, all those billionaire, industrialists and politicians have our best interests in mind. They simply want a better future for all. They would probably be more inclusive in their decision-making, but it's just that an average person out there is too dumb to make any important decisions.

[mypastself]

Completely agreed. The conspiracy theories are both stupid and evil. But I don’t think being vary of the WEF or their ideas is completely misguided.

[throwaway4aday]

Nice of you to cherry pick the "good" stuff from the article. The things people take issue with are being forced to rent everything from some unknown overlords who now are the only ones allowed to own anything. You're also required to share your personal accommodations with others. Apparently money is not allowed either since no one actually pays rent but they do work so it's some version of "from each according to their ability, to each according to his needs"

> we don't pay any rent, because someone else is using our free space whenever we do not need it. My living room is used for business meetings when I am not there.

It also posits that anyone who does not submit to this regime is simply left to rot in the countryside. Implying that they live the equivalent of 19th century life probably with no electricity, running water, or medicine. Sorry, you don't get any technology if you don't want to be a serf.

> My biggest concern is all the people who do not live in our city. Those we lost on the way. Those who decided that it became too much, all this technology. Those who felt obsolete and useless when robots and AI took over big parts of our jobs. Those who got upset with the political system and turned against it. They live different kind of lives outside of the city. Some have formed little self-supplying communities. Others just stayed in the empty and abandoned houses in small 19th century villages.

Living in this society also apparently means that everything you do or think is recorded and that it can be used against you, presumably by the people in power should your behavior ever displease them.

> I know that, somewhere, everything I do, think and dream of is recorded. I just hope that nobody will use it against me.

And apparently a whole lot of people died on the way to this utopia.

> We lost way too many people before we realized that we could do things differently.

No wonder a lot of people reacted poorly to this but I think that was the point. They wanted to do a limited hangout to gauge public reaction to some version of their envisioned future. That allows them to manage the blowback by saying it was just a silly article after which they delete it and then paint all of its detractors as racists and right wing nutjobs which is SOP at this point.