[TheOtherHobbes]

In the future a few thousand billionaire geniuses will own a world of unimaginable luxury and near-infinite longevity. They will make the decisions, AI will execute them, and robots will do the physical work.

Everyone else will be reduced to compost.

It's the perfect plan. The final definitive justification for capitalism.

The masses are unnecessary. The masses will be optimised.

What could possibly go wrong?

[aiisjustanif]

Reminds me of Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan, there is also a cancelled series on Netflix that had an awesome first season.

[ahtihn]

Why do billionaires keep working, keep amassing more money, donate to politicians, buy media companies?

They want influence and power. Being at the top of a hierarchy of millions, billions of people.

If there are no massess the 1000th billionaire will be a the bottom of the hierarchy instead of near the top. They don't want that. The masses are needed to give them the sense of power.

What these people want is power and control. Eliminating the masses goes against that.

[bigbuppo]

They now have the AI that gives them the praise they want. We have been made redundant.

[timacles]

I don’t think that’s it. I think the only thing that motivates billionaire is just to have more than the next guy.

The only thing that motivates Bezos is that Elon Musk’s has more and conversely Elon Musk would have a existential crisis if he was no longer number one

[jpadkins]

why only a few thousand? serious question.