The millionaire has never gotten to where he is by offering apologies, more likely he has achieved it by pushing. But cynicism was not something to be presumed. Cold as the market rules used to be, the good name and image of a tycoon was linked to good works, to the presumption of the jobs generated, to cultural donations. That has disappeared or is in the process of extinction. In the society focused on consumption, success and admiration have been completely stripped down to be reduced to accumulated money and the way of showing it off. It is true that we cannot be naive; Deep down, the origin of wealth has never mattered; and for example the millionaires created by the slave trade two centuries ago, quickly incorporated into the European aristocracy. But invariably there was a process of “whitewashing” of the image, a kind of unwritten condition. Hence the foundations, museums and funds created by dynasties of unpresentable origins. That has disappeared. Third generation capitalism has shed any mask.
Nothing illustrates this more dramatically than the shift from Bill Gates to Elon Musk. Not only because the latter has displaced the former in the first position of the list of ultra millionaires, but because of the public image that both have wanted to carve out. Gates through huge donations in favor of the health of the most vulnerable. Musk trying to destroy aid to those in need. In that sense, nothing more clearly exemplifies the harshness of the times we live in, the narcissism converted into public policies through Brexit or America First, than the philosophy of the owner of Tesla. A vision of the world that goes beyond disdain for the unprotected to become an offensive against them.
Elon Musk has dared to say what the new far-right that is hegemonizing public opinion in rich countries actually maintains. The businessman affirms that empathy is not only not desirable, it is something that gets in the way. Showing solidarity with those who were left behind becomes backwardness. Empathy and compassion in the face of other people’s problems seem to weaken the species. Survival of the fittest. A thesis that has been largely refuted by the history of human beings itself and the many experiences that confirm the need to respond in community terms to the world’s problems. It is understandable that this is irrelevant for someone who is convinced that the survival of the species does not lie in trying to save the planet and its inhabitants, but rather in accelerating the escape to colonies in space, presumably Mars, by the handful of millionaires who can pay for it.
It will be said that it is an extreme positioning, out of the norm, eccentric. But it is not like that. The symptomatic thing is that he is championed by the most powerful man on the planet, considering that Trump is leaving in three years. The millionaire is in the process of becoming the owner of space and its satellites, of controlling with three other colleagues the social networks that modulate public opinion, and is one of the dominant protagonists of the Artificial Intelligence that will manage the world.
It should be noted that what Musk said is not an outburst. It is the latest expression of a logic that has been prevailing for some time. From the moment a manufacturer sensitive to employment or the loyalty of its workers became obsolete; It gave way to investment funds and sharks bent on maximizing quick profits by dismantling companies, devastating natural resources or destroying communities. None of that mattered if they were going to be admired as a result.
For all of the above, today, more than ever, it is urgent to resist that apparent “common sense” that is linked to immediate success regardless of the consequences, to the lack of context, to the absence of looking at what we leave behind, to giving opinions and living the world based on labels and epithets. Every man for himself actually condemns us because only the worst of us will be saved that way.
This is not a philosophical question but a practical one, understanding that our children or grandchildren will be among the seven billion people who are not going to get on Musk’s ships and colonize Mars, even if it is successful. The only alternative is to bet on the possibility of emerging together from the challenges of today and tomorrow. And that involves cleaning up the social fabric, promoting values that are associated with mutual help, understanding others, and reviewing the consequences that our actions have on the environment or on others.
Hence the importance of reviewing what consumes our spirit and what nourishes the conscience of our children. Art and literature constitute a powerful resource, perhaps the best, to help reverse the selfish banality of immediate satisfaction that dominates today.
This Sunday I participate in the Zócalo Book Fil in a panel that addresses the relevance of the work of the Portuguese writer José Saramago. Remembering him in this context makes a lot of sense because his gaze is almost prophetic and his response is the best antidote to what we are experiencing. Saramago built a good part of his work anticipating the extreme situations to which we are approaching. What happens if one day we all wake up blind? What happens if people stop dying? What happens if on election day no one goes to the polls? What happens if one day I run into myself, my double? What happens if a country breaks away from the continent and becomes an island?
The answers that Saramago offers to these questions, through his characters, show that the Elon Musks and the call for every man for himself are wrong. That the only possible salvation is the one we build together through compassion, solidarity and collective action. Reading Saramago 20 years ago was a delight. Today is an action plan. (Saramago Table, Sunday, October 19, 4:00 p.m. FIL Zócalo Cdmx, with Pilar del Río, Hermann Bellinghausen, Gerardo Pisarello and myself). @jorgezepedap