MrAlanCooper2d ago

The Epstein Class believes that providing citizens with enough money to live a decent life while not requiring them to work will spoil them and turn them into useless marshmallows with toxic ideas, anti-social behaviors, and will actively tear at the social fabric.

Many experiments in Universal Basic Income have proven this to NOT be the case.

However, empirically, it turns out that giving someone 50 billion dollars causes them to cease making useful contributions to society, turns them into useless marshmallows with toxic ideas, anti-social behaviors, and they actively tear at the social fabric.

Show threademenel
@mralancooper to accumulate that much money they already had to be that kind of person tbh
Mar 19 at 1:31pmWeb
Show threadMrAlanCooper2d ago

@emenel Yes. A few times during my career I found myself facing such moral choices and knew that I was dooming myself to not becoming rich. I realized that others were making choices I considered immoral.

But I also watched several friends and acquaintances become rich and saw how their personalities changed as their lives changed.

The sheer volume of money takes on a life of itself, and that life-of-money slowly washes away the life-of-humanity. I'm no psychologist but the effect of billions is reminiscent of the effect of combat or years of incarceration. I think it's a form of PTSD. They become a prisoner of their money, a willing caretaker of their fortune. They surround themselves with people tied to them only by their vast wealth and then lose contact with real people and real needs. They are empowered to dismiss any contrary ideas as wrong simply because they are contrary.

Show threademenel2d ago
@mralancooper yes, absolutely. i've also met people like that, and seen the transformation happen ... it's disturbing.
Show threadMrAlanCooper2d ago
@emenel Well, truth be told, there was actually a few years lag between making choices and realizing that I was not choosing to make lots of money.
Show threademenel2d ago
@mralancooper same here. tbh i found myself basically choosing over and over to not have the career my peers were having …
Show threadSteve Purcell1d ago
@emenel @mralancooper Yes, very much the same here.
Show threadGhostOnTheHalfShell2d ago

@mralancooper @emenel

Psychological research is 100% behind your observations here

Show threadDaniël Franke 1d ago
@emenel @mralancooper Sadly it seems to be "both", there's enough research to show that having more money/power than most people fucks your brain, but you're also not wrong in that most people who acquire so much wealth did so because their brain was already fucked.