Very interesting to consider, and there's probably some truth here. Correlating "rich person behavior" with the drug of choice in various decades certainly feels right, though I'm not sure you can actually draw a causal link.
One thing that's incorrect is that modern billionaires are more altruistic than their historical predecessors, and less likely to engage in conspicuous consumption. That's quite incorrect. Musk and Bezos own plenty of yachts.
Modern billionaires also seem far less interested in donating to the general public good "out the door"... the trend these days is to form massive foundations for tax purposes, but still hold the reins pretty tightly to make sure we don't just do something as simple as building a public library or something that might let the money end up in the hands of the undeserving.
And the counterexamples are also counterexamples to the pattern in the article... Gates gives a lot of money away, for example, but he's also not the poster boy for T supplementation and aggressive business practices at this point.
api•7h ago
In the 1980s it was competitive cocaine insufflation. This may be an improvement.
deepfriedchokes•1h ago
There’s been a lot of psychedelics in Silicon Valley for decades now. Back in the day I bet it had a pretty significant positive impact on the grey beards who built the place, but now that it’s being used by the money guys with big egos who came to exploit the place, it’s probably pretty detrimental. Ram Dass warned everyone about this. If you go through the doors of perception with your ego you lose your damn mind. I think a lot of the anti-democratic tech bro behavior we’re seeing is a result of this.
api•1h ago
That’s an aspect I hadn’t thought about. It really does seem like a bunch of these folks have gotten into some kind of crazy messianic world savior ego trip. Hadn’t considered the psychedelics plus ego angle yet in exactly that way.
8f2ab37a-ed6c•1h ago
Regardless of who's supplementing these hormones, if testosterone levels are gradually dropping for most of the male population, not just type-A CEOs, should this not be a serious issue to be investigated in the interest of all males?
lukev•7h ago
One thing that's incorrect is that modern billionaires are more altruistic than their historical predecessors, and less likely to engage in conspicuous consumption. That's quite incorrect. Musk and Bezos own plenty of yachts.
Modern billionaires also seem far less interested in donating to the general public good "out the door"... the trend these days is to form massive foundations for tax purposes, but still hold the reins pretty tightly to make sure we don't just do something as simple as building a public library or something that might let the money end up in the hands of the undeserving.
And the counterexamples are also counterexamples to the pattern in the article... Gates gives a lot of money away, for example, but he's also not the poster boy for T supplementation and aggressive business practices at this point.