Dan BocainFeb 22
ploum

Like @cstross , I’ve only been realizing very late that extremely rich people are necessarily crazy.

https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2026/02/more-in-sadness-than-in-anger.html

It’s logical: non-crazy people will, at some point, hit the "more money than enough even for my craziest fullfilling dreams".

People who are still destroying their social/ecological environment for more money above that level are, obviously, crazy. And dangerous.

Feb 22 at 9:58amWeb
Show threadMistake not ...Feb 22
@ploum @cstross and that's why guillotines are inferior to making them power the Alaskan gravel industry for the rest of their natural life. Sry I have the urgent need to push this image so that maybe I get to see it implemented with the current US administration and their oligarchs.
Show threadLRFeb 22
@ploum @cstross like i said: money addiction should be in the DSM
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 22

@lritter @ploum

Unfortunately money addiction is not in the DSM: it's in the church pulpits instead.

Show threadTC Won't Give In To LiesFeb 22

@ploum @cstross

Yes, and neoliberalism rewards sociopaths who have no empathy.

Ones ability to focus on profit regardless of the secondary harms are richly rewarded.

Show threadAndreas KFeb 22

@ploum @cstross Ah, you misunderstood, it's their score that is constantly showing in their personal heads up display.

And in their game of life, they play to get the high score and to make sure that the upstart that was born in the castle on the hill on the other side of the village doesn't beat them.

And if a couple of board cutouts that look like peons have to suffer, that's a a sacrifice they are willing to take.

Show threadShephallmassiveFeb 22
@ploum @cstross yes I believe their is a problem for the super privileged after a lifetime of education and peers telling you, you are not the same as the hoi polloi, the rules dont apply to you, it is hard for them to modify their behaviour. True even when their actions are potentially fatal to many people in society, they dont feel to need to engage. In Covid when people werent allowed to drive the only cars we saw on the road were the highest end ones..
Show threadCadeFeb 22
@ploum @cstross there is a sort of corollary in behavioral economics - the happiness equation. Happiness = Reality - Expectation
So our happiness depends on the relative condition we encounter. To a person who thinks money can buy happiness, the happiness equation defines their disappointment. The money brings expectations which can always outpace improvement in their reality. To think one can transform reality more readily than adjusting one's own thinking, is truly crazy.
Show threadStephenMFeb 22
@ploum @cstross
I am reminded of a line from a William Gibson novel
"And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human."
Show threadppscrvFeb 23
@stgm @ploum @cstross Count Zero.
Show threadRaymond RussellFeb 22
@ploum @cstross
I would really like to know the correlation/causation dynamic. Does being super wealthy turn you mad or do you need to be mad to become super wealthy.
I reckon its the latter with the former making you even worse when you get the wealth.
Show threadploumFeb 22
@raymierussell @cstross : there are plenty of examples of person suddenly becoming super-wealthy who managed not to stay that wealthy long (either voluntarily or not). Which points towards solution two being the main driving factor.
Show threadChris-EvelynFeb 22
@raymierussell @ploum @cstross I like this explanation: Do you know that thought experiment where you get 1000€ when you press a button but someone you don't know dies? -- A millionaire is someone who was willing to press this button 1000 times, a billionaire a million times.
Show threadRaymond RussellFeb 22
@chris_evelyn @ploum @cstross
That is horribly perfect.
Show threadYoraFeb 22
@ploum @cstross The earliest christian writings make it clear that all rich people go to hell, because they are inherently evil.
Show threadggdupontFeb 22
@ploum
@cstross
They are definitively sociopath in the sense that they don't have empathy anymore (a necessary condition to reach that level of wealth)
Show threadDan BocainFeb 22
@ploum Let's not call them crazy. They are broken.
Show threadxzFeb 22
@ploum @[email protected] It's not about money it's about power
Show threadTruth Or Consequences βœ… πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦Feb 22

@ploum @cstross

Well, they used to experiment on themselves. Howard Hughes lived on Coca-cola and died early. Steve Jobs went on an all fruit diet for cancer and died. However, the current crop of billionaires chose to experiment on us.

Show threadKim Possible Feb 22
@ploum @cstross I can't figure out where insatiable greed comes from, but it appears to be an incurable addiction.
Show threadJanet FraserFeb 22
@ploum @cstross Thread TL;DR but it has come to my attention that a person hoarding anything other than wealth/money is likely considered mentally ill and, hopefully, given healthful assistance/treatment (optimistic, I know). When will "we" recognize that multi millionaires and billionaires are mentally ill hoarders? Remember folks, "Don't let the sick person drive the bus."
Show threadDarwin WoodkaFeb 22

@ploum @cstross

If you know enough is enough you'll always have enough

Show threadSpaceLifeFormFeb 22

@ploum @cstross

They are addicted to money. Every day when they wake up, their first thought is that they need more.

Show threadティージェーグレェFeb 23
It's confusing, for me as a poor person, with thousands of dollars in debt, who is homeless.

I also, need more money, apparently. How is it that I seem to have that in common with the ultra rich?

Particularly since: I do not actually want any money.

I think housing and food and such should be basic fundamental rights for all living creatures on this planet.

For some reason, every other species besides humans seems to have figured this out already. Even birds build nests for their eggs/hatchlings.

Me? I guess I need to work more jobs (I already have one, it is insufficient. A far cry from a livable wage.)? For this stupid money construct? All while making rich people who already have too much, richer?

I feel like a fool.

CC: @[email protected] @[email protected]
Show threadRuchira S. DattaFeb 23
@ploum Depends what you mean by "extremely"? Some people get extremely rich in one fell swoop (e.g., the startup they were working at IPO'ed). You might say, then they could give a lot of their money to charity. Well, to do so in a non-crazy way is not necessarily that simple either.
Show threadπŸ₯‘ Yours Truly! Unruly πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸŒ»Feb 23

@ploum @cstross

Does excess money cause craziness?

I mean, developing a sort of greedy attitude that works leads to more greed and more and more. This is crazy isn't it?

Do everyone a favour and regulate to limit too much accumulation of wealth.