[JohnFen]

> When I think about those stories I can't help but wonder if we're actually seeing the opposite of that unravel.

Interesting. My perception is pretty much the opposite of yours, that such fiction has been mostly on point so far. The "elites" (and particularly the tech "elites") have built their own world that is pretty much completely disconnected from ours in a day-to-day sense. They live in compounds, have what are basically private armies to increase that separation, and view people as resources to be exploited. They could not be more separate from normal people without actually leaving the planet.

Remember that almost everything in sci-fi is allegory. You can effectively leave the Earth without ever physically leaving the Earth.

[ted_bunny]

I can't cite this directly, but according to hearsay from people who know billionaires: if the world saw how these people actually live when they're out of sight of the public, people would revolt. The idea that they live in our world is a facade.